Bruins Prospects Shine Through Preliminary Round at World Juniors

BostonBruins.com -Bruins prospects Riley Duran, Fabian Lysell, and Dan Locmelis - and their teams - had strong performances during the preliminary round of the 2022 IIHF World Juniors. The United States, Sweden, and Latvia willl continue their tournaments on Wednesday as they get set for the quarterfinals. Here's a look back at the preliminary round:

Riley Duran, USA

Team USA will continue on to the quarterfinals with help from B's 2020 sixth-round pick Riley Duran, who is competing in his first World Juniors. The Providence College forward has two goals and three assists through four games with Team USA set to face Czechia on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Game 1: USA 5, Germany, 1 | Tuesday, August 9.Duran scored his first goal of the tournament and the fifth and final goal in Team USA's win over Germany. Duran's goal came in the final minute of the game and sealed the deal on the victory.

Game 2: USA 7, Switzerland, 1 | Thursday, August 11th.Team USA continued their success through their second game of the preliminary round as Duran once again closed out the game on a high note, adding another tally with a high wrist shot to close out the 7-1 victory.
Game 3: USA 7, Austria, 0 | Saturday August 13th.Duran continued to contribute to Team USA, logging two assists in the first period as Team USA shut out Austria.
Game 4: USA 3, Sweden, 2 | Sunday August 14th. In a fight to finish in first place in Group B heading into the quarterfinals, Duran went to battle against fellow B's prospect Fabian Lysell and Team Sweden. Neither forward factored into the scoring as the U.S. grabbed a victory to lock them in to the first-place spot.

Fabian Lysell, Sweden

Team Sweden has had plenty of help from Lysell, who had Bruins fans buzzing over a top-shelf, short-side goal helping Sweden survive the preliminary round and go on to face Latvia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Game 1: Sweden 3, Switzerland, 2 | Wednesday August 10th. Sweden beat Switzerland as Lysell contributed an assist in the third period to help finalize the win and get the Swedes off to a good start in the preliminary round.
Game 2: Sweden 6, Austria, 0. | Friday August 12th.Lysell showed off his skills and net-drive on the power play in the third period of this blowout win, during which Sweden outshot Austria, 41-14. After missing on a penalty shot in the third, he redeemed himself with a nifty hard angle shot just a minute later.
Game 4: Sweden 4, Germany, 2. | Sunday August 14th.Lysell contributed to the win with a nice assist in the second period on teammate Daniel Ljungman's tally that giave his team the 2-1 lead in the first period.

Dans Locmelis, Latvia

Locmelis, one of the newest Bruins draft picks (2022 fourth-rounder), has helped Latvia during their surprise run to the quarterfinals with his strong ability to distribute the puck and beat players 1-on-1. The 18-year-old will meet Lysell and Sweden on Wednesday.
Game 3: Latvia 2, Solvakia, 3 | Friday August 12th.Although it ended as a shootout loss, Locmelis started things off strong for Latvia by being aggressive in a scrum in front of the net and earning a power-play goal to give his team an early lead.

Game 4: Latvia 5, Czechia, 2. | Sunday August 14th.In an upset, Latvia secured their spot in the quarterfinals for the first time in history with a stunning win over Czechia that eliminated Slovakia from contention. Locmelis was a plus-1 in 14:48 of ice time during the win.