#85/2014 IIHF WJC Blog

Biscuits and Breezers

World Junior Championships:

Day 3

     Welcome back to another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! On Day 3 of the WJC, we had 4 games played. The teams participating were the USA, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Swtizerland, Russia, and the Czech Republic. There were some major upsets and minor triumphs considering Canada lost in a shoot out to the Czechs while Slovakia came back and almost defeated Team USA. Team Russia, being the hockey super power that it is, came back in normal fashion and completely wiped away Switzerland 7-1. I was really excited to watch the Sweden vs. Finland game as I always am and let me tell you, it was a great game! So far into the World Juniors, it appears that the statistics are showing the normality between the super powers and the lower level teams but I honestly feel that we are all coming to a major upset between a team from each power level. In my opinion, all the teams are performing to what we thought they were going to. I think it will be interesting to see who makes the playoffs and who makes the relegation because there were certainly some teams striving this year that were kicked out way too early last year. When all of this is over, I can predict that the last 4 teams standing will be USA, Sweden, Russia, and either Canada or Finland. If you really want to watch some good hockey just wait until the 31st because that is the day Team USA takes on it's biggest rival; Team Canada. There are a lot of rivals in these games such as USA vs. Canada, Sweden vs. Finland, Russia vs. Canada, USA vs. Sweden and I am very excited to report to you that on Day 3 of the IIHF WJC is the epic Nordic battle, host team Sweden versus it's Scandinavian brethren Finland. So to get onto the reviews, Game 1 is USA vs. Slovakia, Game 2 is Sweden vs. Finland, Game 3 is Canada vs. Czech Republic, and Game 4 is Russia vs. Switzerland!

Game 1 - USA vs. Slovakia

   

   What a great game by Team USA at the Malmo Isstadion! They were on top of their game for most of the 60 minutes and Jon Gillies was incredible in the cage! Honestly I think Gillies is one of the main components for Team USA's success. You can't forget the Slovaks either. I love their strategies that they wait for holes to open up and then they successfully attack the net. Jack Eichel opened the scoring for Team USA when he beat Richard Sabol at 16:53 and the last goal scored in the first period was Dan O'Regan's 1 second before the end of the first. With a 2-0 lead already, Chicago Blackhawks prospect Ryan Hartmen made it 3-0 with his goal at 4:22 into the second period. An assist was given to Will Butcher. This was the last goal before Slovakia really got into the game. Two Slovakia goals rolled into the American net from the sticks of Milan Kolena and Martin Reway with apples from David Griger. This made the score 3-2 after 40 minutes. Matt Grzelcyk made it 4-2 at 9:33 when he beat out Sabol with a beautiful assist from Connor Carrick. Stefan Matteau and captain Riley Barber upped the score to 6-2 with 2 late goals into the third. These genos were the final ones for the Americans. Slovakia closed things up for everyone when Martin Reway scored on Gillies at 17:52 in the third period. Jon Gillies stopped 27 out of 30 goals for the Americans while Richard Sabol stopped 41 out 47 shots for Slovakia. Team USA will play Germany on the 29th and Slovakia will play Canada on the 30th. 

Game 2 - Sweden vs. Finland

   The battle of the North played out in favor of the Swedes but the Finns with out a doubt put out a huge fight in fact, Finland led through most of the first and early second periods. Sweden is on route to reclaiming their gold medal status and Finland could potentially end up in the 3rd or 4th place spots. Esa Lindell drew first blood just 41 seconds into this game for Team Finland when Teuvo Teravainen and Arrturi Lehkonen help him set up a shot after impressive physical plays and a gamble with Swedish goaltender Oscar Dansk. Off on a two man advantage, Alexander Wennberg tied things up for the Swedes on an open net at 4:15. The youngest player for Sweden, Anton Karlsson, sparked things for his countrymen when he started plays that were agitating and aggressive. Sweden finally pulled ahead when Andreas Johnson was set up by Sebastian Collberg and Alexander Wennberg with 5:56 left in the second period. Jacob de la Rose made it 3-1 when he and Filip Forsberg beat Ville Husso and the Finnish defenders at 16:19 in the second. Rasmus Ristolainen scored for his home team and lit the lamp for the last time for Team Finland. Rasmus' geno came at just 45 seconds into the third. At 8:27, Wennberg once again put one up for the Swedes and led a two goal edge. This was the last goal of the game. Oscar Dansk saved 18 out of 20 attempted Finnish goals for Team Sweden and Ville Husso saved 26 out of 30 for Team Finland. Sweden plays next on the 29th against other Scandinavian rival Norway and Finland will play on the 30th against Russia.

Game 3 - Canada vs. Czech Republic

   What an upset for Team Canada losing to the Czech Republic at the Malmo Isstadion. Thought to be one of the top 3 power houses in the world if not the biggest, Canada should have won this game with just the flick of their wrists. But the rising Czech power beat them to it in a shoot out. In fact, the last time the Czechs beat Canada was January 4th, 1993 when they were still Czechoslovakia with a score of 7-4. David Kampf started the scoring for the game at 7:10 with a 1-0 lead against the Canadians. Sam Reinhart quickly changed that though at 15:50 with assists from other star players Bo Horvat and Connor McDavid. Near the end of the second it was possible for all teams at 1-1. Michael Plutnar took charge for the Czechs as he made it 2-1 one second after the expiration of 20 minutes. Jonathan Drouin snatched back a point to make it a 2-2 game just 24 seconds into the third period. Starting to quicken their game and to pick up some lost time, Vojtech Tomecek pushed the biscuit through starting goaltender Jake Paterson's legs. 3-2 was the name of the game. Aaron Ekblad tied things up for Team Canada at 11:09 when captain Scott Laughton opened up things with a great rush. Not before long, the Czechs regained their hard earned lead 4-3 when Jakub Vrana shot the puck right over Paterson's shoulder. Charles Hudon tied everything once more 16 seconds later to name it a 4-4 game. The 5 minute overtime showed no goals so a shoot out was decided to name the team to take it. David Pastrnak was the one who was able to win it for the Czech Republic. Marek Langhammer stopped 25 out of 29 shots for the Czech Republic while Jake Paterson made 24 saves. Team Canada and the Czech Republic will both play on the 30th, Canada against the USA and the Czechs against Germany.

Game 4 - Russia vs. Switzerland

  Team Russia has been on fire so far during this tourney with this being their second forceful win with a 7-1 win over Switzerland. The Swiss put up a good fight though and even drew first blood at the Malmo Arena. Jason Fuchs got Switzerland on the board with 5 minutes left in the first period. This would be the first and last goal for the young Swiss team. Alexander Barabanov tied the game up at 16:27 and ended the first period on a high note. Andrei Mironov was the next Russian to score and paved the pathway as Team Russia took their first lead of the game. Bogdan Yakimov upped the ante to 3-1 when he shot a wicked wrister past Sascha Rochow at 6:23 in the second. Barabanov improved the lead to 4-1 when his shot went off a Swiss defender's skate and into the cage. An unbelievable 34 seconds later, Barabanov set up Damir Zhafyarov for a goal of his own. Vyacheslav Osnovin made the score an incredible 6-1 at 8:17 in the third period. For the last and final goal of the game, Mikhail Grigorenko easily slid the biscuit in at 9:52 to cleanly cut the game to a close and vastly improve Russia's overall win/loss record to 19-2-2. Sascha Rochow saved 27 out of 34 potential goals for Team Switzerland and Andrei Vasilevski made 25 out of 26 saves for Team Russia. Both Russia and Switzerland have a break until the 30th when Russia will play Finland and Switzerland will play Norway.

Scoring Leaders:
1. Alexander Wennberg 7 pts - Sweden
2. Filip Forsberg 7 pts - Sweden
3. Martin Reway 6 pts - Slovakia
4. Matt Grzelcyk 6 pts - USA
5. David Griger 6 pts - Slovakia

Assist Leaders:
1. Filip Forsberg 6 pts - Sweden
2. David Griger 5 pts - Slovakia
3. Andrew Copp 5 pts - USA
4. Jonathan Drouin 4 pts - Canada
5. Matt Grzelcyk 4 pts - USA
5. Nicolas Kerdiles 4 pts - USA
5. Alexander Wennberg 4 pts - Sweden

Goalkeepers:
1. Andrei Vasilevski .67 GAA .970 S% - Russia
2. Juuse Saros 1 GAA .965 S% - Finland
3. Jon Gillies 2 GAA .926 S% - USA
4. Oscar Dansk 2.50 GAA .906 S% - Sweden
5. Joachim Svendsen 4.50 GAA .891 S% - Norway

Penalty Leaders:
1. Leon Draisaitl 25 PIMs - Germany
2. Lukas Balmelli 12 PIMs - Switzerland
2. Mirco Muller 12 PIMs - Switzerland
4. Ludvig Hoff 12 PIMs - Norway
4. Didrik Svendsen 12 PIMs - Norway 
6. Henrik Haapala 6 PIMs - Finland

   Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! Every blog will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and much more! Until next time remember, don't get your breezers in a bunch because hockey is always around the corner. Remember, it's always a great day for hockey and it's a lifestyle not just a sport!