World Junior Championship roundup: U.S. upset by Czechia, Canada advances
Senators prospect Greig injured in win against Switzerland; Sweden, Finland also reach semifinals
Czechia 4, United States 2 -- Tomas Suchanek (2023 draft eligible) made 28 saves, and
Jiri Kulich
(Buffalo Sabres) had a goal and two assists to help Czechia stun the defending champions.
Logan Cooley
(Arizona Coyotes) and
Carter Mazur
(Detroit Red Wings) scored for the United States, which had outscored opponents 22-4 in its first four games of the tournament. Kaidan Mbereko (2023 draft eligible) made 20 saves.
"These games are tough; I thought all the top seeds struggled today," U.S. coach Nate Leaman said. "I thought we struggled getting to our game today. I didn't mind our first 10 minutes; we scored the first goal, I thought that would get us going a little bit. But we] struggled managing the puck a lot tonight."
Cooley scored at 12:03 of the first period. The puck was rimmed around the boards and bounced back to the left circle to
[Matt Coronato
(Calgary Flames). His shot was denied by Suchanek, who raced back into his net, but Cooley put in the rebound.
Jan Mysak
(Montreal Canadiens) tied it 1-1 at 17:55 on a redirection of a shot by Jiri Tichacek (2023 draft eligible).
"I think we learned a lesson against Latvia (5-2 loss Aug. 14), that they just wanted it more than us, so we lost," Mysak said. "Today we just tried to do the same. We just wanted it more and that's why we won."
Petr Hauser
(New Jersey Devils) made it 2-1 at 7:34 of the second period when he skated in and scored on shot from the right circle that bounced in off the goal post, and
Matyas Sapovaliv
(Vegas Golden Knights) gave Czechia a 3-1 lead at 10:45.
Mazur cut it to 3-2 at 11:31 of the third period after
Stanislav Svozil
(Columbus Blue Jackets) was assessed a major penalty for kneeing Cooley, but Kulich scored an empty-net goal with 1:32 remaining for the 4-2 final.
"I think we forced a little too many shots on power play]," Cooley said. "We needed to move the puck a little more, but credit to them. They had a great PK and they shut it down."
**Canada 6, Switzerland 3 --**
[Logan Stankoven
(Dallas Stars) had two goals and an assist to help Canada advance to the semifinals.
Tyson Foerster
(Philadelphia Flyers) had a goal and an assist,
Ronan Seeley
(Carolina Hurricanes) had two assists and
Dylan Garand
(New York Rangers) made 23 saves for Canada, which has won each of its five games in the tournament.
"It definitely wasn't our best, but we got the win and that's all that matters," Stankoven said. "We're off to the semifinals and we're going to go over video to make some changes to make sure that we put our best effort against our next opponent."
Attilio Biasca (2023 draft eligible) scored twice for Switzerland. Noah Patenaude allowed four goals on nine shots before being replaced at 17:01 of the first period by Kevin Pasche (2023 draft eligible), who made 30 saves.
"I thought we played a good game and if we would have played this way in every game of the tournament, we would have more wins," Biasca said. "It was a really great game, it was a really great atmosphere and I was really proud of the way we competed."
Foerster scored on the first shot of the game with a shot from the right face-off circle at 1:07 of the first period to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
Simon Knak
(Nashville Predators) tied it 1-1 at 2:21, redirecting a point shot from defenseman
Brian Zanetti
(Philadelphia Flyers).
Jack Thompson
(Tampa Bay Lightning) put Canada back in front 2-1 at 12:31, and Stankoven capitalized on a turnover at 14:32 for a 3-1 lead.
Nathan Gaucher
(Anaheim Ducks) made it 4-1 at 17:01 on a rebound after Patenaude lost track of the puck after denying
Elliot Desnoyers
(Philadelphia Flyers) on the initial shot.
Patenaude was replaced by Pasche after the goal, and Biasca cut it to 4-2 at 19:51.
William Cuylle
(New York Rangers) converted a cross-ice pass from
Olen Zellweger
(Anaheim Ducks) at 4:20 of the second period to give Canada a 5-2 lead.
Biasca cut it to 5-3 at 7:51, but Stankoven scored an empty-net goal at 18:51 of the third period for the 6-3 final.
Canada forward
Ridly Greig
(Ottawa Senators) did not play after the first period because of an undisclosed injury.
"I know he was out of the game and didn't come back, so he's being evaluated now and I'll probably have a lot more information on Thursday
(Ottawa Senators) had two goals and two assists for Finland, which scored four times on the power play against Germany to advance to the semifinals.
Jarventie scored with the man-advantage in the first period and again in the third.
All but one of the combined seven goals were scored on the power play.
"On our power play, we have five great players, everybody can shoot the puck," Jarventie said. "It really doesn't matter who scores the goals. Luckily I got a couple of good passes today and they went in."
Kasper Simontaival
(Los Angeles Kings) and
Roni Hirvonen
(Toronto Maple Leafs) also scored, and
Leevi Merilainen
(Ottawa Senators) made 19 saves.
Bennet Rossmy (2023 draft eligible) scored two goals for Germany. Florian Bugl (2023 draft eligible) made 17 saves.
"It was just the little things that hurt us," Rossmy said. "They scored three quick goals and it's tough to come back from that. I thought we played well in the second period. We out-worked them, but it's tough to come back."
Simontaival scored at 3:37 of the first period to give Finland a 1-0 lead, and Hirvonen made it 2-0 on the power play at 11:06.
Rossmy cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 12:50, but Jarventie gave Finland a 3-1 lead with the man-advantage from the top of the right face-off circle at 14:48.
"He has a great shot and has improved a lot," Finland coach Antti Pennanen said. "His game has been impressive for me since the last tournament or last year, he was just a kid. He's improved his game and the little things he does, and being here has been a good experience for him."
Rossmy scored his second goal on the power play at 17:21 of the second period to make it 3-2.
Jarventie made it 4-2 at 6:22 of the third period on the man-advantage, and
Joel Maatta
(Edmonton Oilers) scored a power-play goal at 15:53 for the 5-2 final.
Finland will face Sweden in the semifinals on Friday (8 p.m. ET).
Sweden 2, Latvia 1 --
Emil Andrae
(Philadelphia Flyers) scored the go-ahead goal at 9:49 of the third period to help Sweden advance to the semifinals.
The defenseman scored on a shot from the point that found its way through traffic.
"I'm just trying to produce as much as I can and help the team as much as I can," Andrae, Sweden's captain, said. "If that's a chip out from the defensive zone or a shot from the blue line, that's what I want to do. My teammates did a good job of getting in front of the goalie, and I just have to get those pucks through and that's all that I'm focusing on."
Isak Rosen
(Buffalo Sabres) scored, and
Jesper Wallstedt
(Minnesota Wild) made 12 saves for Sweden.
Gustavs Ozolins (2023 draft eligible) scored, and Bruno Bruveris (2023 draft eligible) made 25 saves for Latvia, which played in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Championship for the first time.
Rosen gave Sweden a 1-0 lead at 15:25 of the first period, but Ozolins tied it 1-1 at 18:46 of the second period on a shot from the point.
"We fought hard and we gave it all we had," Ozolins said. "We left it all on the ice. We're not happy about the loss. We're disappointed. We knew we had them, but at the end of the day, it is what it is."
LNH.com staff writer Guillaume Lepage contributed to this report
