#87/ 2014 IIHF WJC Blog

Biscuits and Breezers 

World Junior Championships:
Day 5

   

    Welcome back to another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! I apologize that I am a day behind but I promise I will get caught up! On Day 5, there were quite a lot of surprising outcomes especially Germany beating the Czech Republic. Team Germany hasn't won 1 game and then they decide to go and beat the Czechs! You do have to be impressed though because not only did they beat them, they shut them out 3-0. Also, Finland went into their game against Russia as the under dogs and came out the Alpha Males by whooping them 4-1. It will be interesting to see who ends up in the play offs now considering the lower level teams seem to be raising the bar for playing standards. I believe that if the teams can carry these performance levels over to next year, the outcome and the champions may be one hundred percent out of the blue. For all I know, Germany and Norway could be in the gold medal rounds. I don't want to disgrace those teams though because they are very very talented I am just saying that we don't normally see them up for the 1st place spot that is all. Well there were 4 games on the 30th which involved Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Slovakia, Russia, Finland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The final scores of each were 3-0 Germany, 4-1 Finland, 5-3 Canada, and 3-2 Switzerland. I can now formally tell you all that Germany and Norway are in the relegation rounds, the USA, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, and Slovakia are all in the Quarter Finals. Now the real battles begin as in survival of the fittest and eat or be eaten type of survival logic. It has come to the point time where you have to find your place in the wild as either a vicious blood thirsty predator that doesn't look back at who they have eaten or as the prey in place on the statistic food chain as a nice juicy piece of steak for dinner in my opinion. Segwaying off of that nice topic, here are the game reviews!

Game 1 - Germany vs. Czech Republic

   Germany is back in the competition everyone! Even though they are still in the relegation rounds, way to go Team Germany for picking up their slack and kicking themselves right up to the winner's circle! Frederik Tiffels scored two goals and 1 assist in this game and Dominik Kahun was credited with the other geno and an apple as well. Germany's Marvin Cupper stopped all 40 Czech shots. Germany's first goal came in the first period from the stick of Frederik Tiffels. Kahun made the pass from the side of the Czech net and Tiffels shot it over Marek Langhammer. The puck was released by force from Czech defender Libor Sulak by Tiffels and with a quick pass to his partner Dominik Kahun, Kahun shot a wrister past Langhammer's glove at 15:24 to make it 2-0. Frederik scored his last goal again with a wrister past Marek to end the game with a final score of 3-0. Team Germany's Marvin Cupper got the shut out with 40 stops and the Czech Republic's Marek Langhammer stopped all but 3. The Czech Republic would play next on the 31st against Slovakia and Germany will play next on the 2nd of January against Norway.

Game 2 - Russia vs. Finland

    The top seed in Group B is still up for anyone's taking as Finland took down hockey super power Team Russia in one of the last preliminary games with a final score of 4-1. They accomplished this feat even with Rasmus Ristolainen out with a fever and Artturi Lehkonen suffering a leg injury. The Russians were optimistic going into this game, even drawing first blood, but coming out of the third period they were less than enthused.  Team Russia opened the scoring for the first period by scoring their last goal of the game when Pavel Buchnevich made a quick saucer to Valeri Vasiliev at 5:27 who put it away past Juuse Saros. 2 minutes and 21 seconds into the second, the Finns tied everything up on a power play goal. Keeping the puck in between each other, Teuvo Teravainen and Ville Pokka pushed the biscuit to Saku Maenalanen who then didn't waste a second to put the biscuit in the basket behind Russia's tendy Ivan Nalimov. Henrik Haapala brought the Finns into the lead at 10:20 into the second period when soft gloves pushed the puck right across the line past Nalimov. 4:53 left in the second, 3-1 was the name of the game when Ivan Nalimov's goaltending abilities weren't enough to match Juuso Ikonen's wrist shot assist and Rasmus Kulmala's sick geno. 7:39 into the third period, the great Finnish force rounded everything up to 4-1 when Joni Nikko took Henri Ikonen's shot and put it past Ivan to finish off the scoring for the game. Finland is looking to regain their medal status and end a drought that began in 2006 with a bronze. The Finnish captain Teuvo Teravainen recorded two assists.  Juuse Saros saved 28 out of 29 shots for Team Finland and Ivan Nalimov saved 27 out of 31 for Russia. Finland would play next against Switzerland on the 31st and Russia played Sweden on the 31st as well. 

Game 3 - Canada vs. Slovakia

   Canada finally regained confidence in their World Juniors Championship performance when they decided to finally put Zach Fucale in the cage. The Red and White definitely upped their power play execution and strength during shifts. The Slovaks played very well also constantly moving the puck and keeping their plays physical. Slovakia scored the first geno of the game with a fantastic power play goal from the blade of David Griger just 1:40 into the first 20 minutes. An apple was given to Jakub Predajniansky. Canada finally tied things up just as the period was going to end at 18:12 when Anthony Mantha was able to connect with Curtis Lazar right near the start of the goaltender's crease. Martin Reway scored the next goal of the game at 7:07 into the second period and 5 minutes later David Griger scored his second goal of the game with a shot over Fucale finding the back of the net. Anthony Mantha made the score 3-2 when he lit the lamp off of Aaron Ekblad's attempt on Slovakian tendy Samuel Baros. With 6 minutes left in the third, Mantha was able to set up a nice shot in front of the goal for Jonathan Drouin to score on making it a tied game, 3-3. Nic Petan broke the tie for the Canadians when he scored a goal past Baros fed to him by the ever impressive Mantha. To end the game nicely 5-3, Petan scored into an empty net to close the scoring game allowing Canada to win and take away the 3 pts. I am unsure how many goals were stopped by Team Canada's Zach Fucale and Team Slovakia's Samuel Baros. Canada would play next on the 31st against the USA in a very exciting game and Slovakia played the same day against rival the Czech Republic. 

Game 4 - Switzerland vs. Norway

   This was a gritty win for Switzerland but in a time where easy game are getting limited, it was still a win against a no-threat Norwegian team. Fabrice Herzog, Anthony Rouiller, Mirco Muller, Kevin Fiala, and Sandro Zangger all recorded points for the Swiss. The last time that Norway wasn't immediately relegated was way back to 1989, they played until 1991 at the top level. The Norwegians came out punching, drawing first blood, when Erlend Lesund grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and skated it all the way down to Swiss tendy Melvin Nyffeler where he then proceeded to find the back of the net at 9:27. Switzerland finally got a goal of their own after a repeated hit and miss against the goal posts. At 14:39, Kevin Fiala made a breakaway connection with Fabrice Herzog who then lit the lamp on Norway. Mirco Muller brought Switzerland up 2-1 with a goal at 6:17 into the third period with an assist from Sandro Zangger. At 9 minutes even, Norway brought the tie back into the game when Christoffer Rasch had the puck eat Swiss net. Soon after at 11:42, Anthony Rouiller restored the Swiss lead once and for all. Rouiller closed out the game with a 3-2 final. Team Switzerland's goalie Melvin Nyffeler saved 24 out of 26 shots whereas Norway's Joachim Svendsen's saves were 34 out of 38. Switzerland would play next on the 31st against Finland and Norway plays next on the 1st against Germany.

Scoring Leaders:

1. Anthony Mantha 10 pts - Canada

1. Martin Reway 10 pts - Slovakia

3. David Griger 10 pts - Slovakia

4. Milan Kolena 8 pts - Slovakia

5. Jonathan Drouin 8 pts - Canada

Assist Leaders:

1. David Griger 7 pts - Slovakia

1. Teuvo Teravainen 7 pts - Finland

3. Jonathan Drouin 6 pts - Canada

3. Filip Forsberg 6 pts - Sweden

3. Anthony Mantha 6 pts - Canada

3. Martin Reway 6 pts - Slovakia

Goalkeepers:

1. Juuse Saros 1.16 GAA .960 S% - Finland

2. Andrei Vasilevski 1.61 .939 S% - Russia

3. Marek Langhammer 2.59 GAA .916 S% - Czech Republic

4. Oscar Dansk 2.33 GAA .910 S% - Sweden

4. Jon Gillies 2.35 GAA .910 S% - USA

6. Joachim Svendsen 3.86 GAA .903 S% - Norway

Penalty Leaders:

1. Patrik Marcel 29 PIMs - Czech Republic

2. Leon Draisaitl 25 PIMs - Germany

3. Georgi Busarov 14 PIMs - Russia

3. Mirco Muller 14 PIMs - Switzerland

5. Lukas  Balmelli 12 PIMs - Switzerland

5. Jonathan Drouin 12 PIMs - Canada

5. Ludvig Hoff 12 PIMs - Norway

5. Didrik Svendsen 12 PIMs - Norway 

   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!