2016-17 National Junior Team

2017 WJC Day in Review – Montreal

Thursday, January 5, 2017

UNITED STATES 5 vs. CANADA 4 (SO) (GOLD)
The Americans got shootout heroics from a familiar face, erasing two two-goal deficits to beat Canada in an epic back-and-forth final and win their fourth IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal.

Troy Terry, who scored three times in a semifinal shootout win, counted the lone goal against the Canadians, and Tyler Parsons stopped all five Canadians to accompany his 46 saves in regulation time and overtime. Kieffer Bellows scored twice in regulation, and Charlie McAvoy and Colin White added one goal each.

Thomas Chabot, who earned MVP and Top Defenceman honours as well as a spot on the all-star team, had a goal and an assist for Canada, as did Mathieu Joseph. Jérémy Lauzon and Nicolas Roy were the other scorers, and Carter Hart finished with 31 stops.

RUSSIA 2 vs. SWEDEN 1 (OT) (BRONZE)
Russia made it seven consecutive years with a medal at the World Juniors, edging Sweden in overtime to win the bronze medal in a game dominated by goaltenders Ilya Samsonov and Felix Sandstrom.

Denis Guryanov scored the winner just 33 seconds into the extra period, and Kirill Kaprizov added his ninth goal in regulation time, setting a single-tournament Russian record. Samsonov – named to the tournament all-star team along with Kaprizov – finished with 38 saves.

Jonathan Dahlen had the lone goal for Sweden, which got 24 saves from Sandstrom. He was named Top Goaltender by the IIHF directorate following the gold medal game.


Wednesday, January 4, 2017

CANADA 5 vs. SWEDEN 2 (SEMIFINAL)
Canada is going for gold on home ice once again, scoring four unanswered goals to erase a first-period deficit and hand the Swedes their first loss of the tournament.

Julien Gauthier scored two goals for the second game in a row, and Mitchell Stephens, Anthony Cirelli and Dylan Strome added one each for Canada, which got 28 saves in relief from Carter Hart to advance to the gold medal game for the 15th time.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Carl Grundstrom scored on two of the first three shots for Sweden, which will play for its first medal since 2014 in the bronze medal game.

UNITED STATES 4 vs. RUSSIA 3 (SO) (SEMIFINAL)
The Americans finally earned a medal-round win over Russia, needing a shootout to get their first victory in eight tries in win-or-go-home games.

Troy Terry was the hero for the U.S., scoring three times on three chances in the shootout. Colin White scored twice and Luke Kunin added one in regulation for the Americans, who are back in the final for the first time since 2013.

Denis Guryanov had two goals, Kirill Kaprizov added his tournament-leading eighth and Ilya Samsonov made 40 saves for Russia, who will play for bronze.


Tuesdday, January 3, 2017

FINLAND 4 vs. LATVIA 1 (RELEGATION)
The Finns assured they would remain in the top division of the IIHF World Junior Championship for the 42nd-consecutive year, scoring three times in the third period to sweep the Latvians in the relegation series.

Juuso Valimaki had two goals in the last 18 minutes to give the Scandinavians some breathing room after Vili Saarijarvi netted the game-winner on the power play 88 seconds into the final frame. Eeli Tolvanen scored the other goal for Finland.

Renars Krastenbergs was the lone goal-scorer for Latvia, which will drop down to Division I, Group A and be replaced in 2018 by Belarus, this year’s 1A gold medallist.


Mondday, January 2, 2017

CANADA 5 vs. CZECH REPUBLIC 3 (QUARTER-FINAL)
After a one-year absence, Canada is headed back to the semifinals at the IIHF World Junior Championship after surviving a stuff challenge from the Czechs.

Julien Gauthier scored twice and Mitchell Stephens added a goal and two assists for the Canadians, who also got a goal and a helper from Thomas Chabot and a goal from Blake Speers, who celebrated his 20th birthday in style. Canada will face Sweden in the semifinals on Wednesday.

David Kase, Tomas Soustal and Simon Stransky had the goals for the Czechs, who led 1-0 after the first period, and twice got within a goal in the final 40 minutes.

SWEDEN 8 vs. SLOVAKIA 3 (QUARTER-FINAL)
The Swedes flexed their offensive muscle in a win over Slovakia at the Bell Centre, keeping their perfect record intact and punching their ticket to a semifinal match-up against Canada.

Tim Soderlund and captain Joel Eriksson Ek led the way with two goals apiece for Sweden, which got one goal each from Carl Grundstrom, Alex Nylander, Frederik Karlstrom and Lias Andersson, and four assists from Rasmus Asplund while outshooting Slovakia 50-18.

Martin Bodak, Miroslav Struska and Adam Ruzicka scored for the Slovaks, who trailed 5-0 late in the second period before three unanswered goals got them within two early in the third.

FINLAND 2 vs. LATVIA 1 (RELEGATION)
The defending gold medallists took their first step towards remaining in the top division of the IIHF World Junior Championship, getting a third-period winner for a narrow win over the Latvians.

Kristian Vesalainen scored nine minutes into the final frame to get the Finns halfway to victory in the best-of-three relegation series. Vili Saarijarvi had the other goal for Finland, which outshot Latvia 45-24, but again struggled to find the back of the net.

Maksims Ponomarenko was the lone Latvian to score, while Mareks Mitens starred in a 43-save performance.


Saturday, December 31, 2016

FINLAND (1-0-0-3) 2 vs. SWITZERLAND (0-2-0-2) 0
The Finns knew they were headed to the relegation round before the puck dropped, but they salvaged a win in their preliminary-round finale behind a 17-save shutout from Veini Vehvilainen.

Aapeli Rasanen opened the scoring early in the second period, and 17-year-old Eeli Tolvanen added a power-play marker late in the middle frame to ensure the Finns would not suffer their first winless round robin since the World Juniors went to the group format in 1996.

Joren Van Pottelberghe was outstanding with 49 saves in a losing effort for the Swiss, who finished fourth in Group A and will meet the United States in the quarter-finals.
 
SWEDEN (4-0-0-0) 5 vs. CZECH REPUBLIC (1-0-2-1) 2
The Swedes made it a full decade without a preliminary-round loss at the IIHF World Junior Championship, beating the Czechs for their 40th consecutive round-robin victory ahead of a quarter-final date with Slovakia.

Jonathan Dahlen recorded a hat trick for the Swedes, including two goals on the power play, and Rasmus Asplund and Jens Looke added a goal apiece. Alexander Nylander earned two assists to take over the tournament scoring lead with nine points.

David Kase and Filip Hronek scored goals in the final seven minutes for the Czechs, who will stay in Montreal and take on Canada in the quarter-finals on Monday night.


Friday, December 30, 2016

SWITZERLAND (0-2-0-1) 5 vs. DENMARK (1-1-1-1) 4 (SO)
Marco Miranda scored the lone goal in the shootout, giving Switzerland a come-from-behind win over Denmark that assured the Swiss of a spot in the quarter-finals at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Nico Hischier, Yannick Zehnder, with two, and Nando Eggenberger scored the regulation-time goals for the Swiss, who trailed 3-0 14 minutes in and 4-1 early in the second period before forcing the extra period and sending defending gold medallist Finland to the relegation round.

Alexander True, Joachim Blichfeld, Niklas Andersen and Mathias From had the goals for Denmark, which concluded its best preliminary round ever at the World Juniors.


Thursday, December 29, 2016

SWEDEN (3-0-0-0) 3 vs. FINLAND (0-0-0-3) 1
Alexander Nylander scored twice in the third period to break open a 1-1 game and help the Swedes clinch first place in Group A with a high-tempo win over their Scandinavian rivals.

Lias Andersson had the other goal for Sweden off a set-up from Nylander, who pulled within one point of Russia captain Kirill Kaprizov for the tournament scoring lead; he has four goals and three assists in three games.

Aapeli Rasanen opened the scoring with a first-period power-play goal for Finland, which is the first defending gold medallist to lose three preliminary-round games since the Czech Republic in 2002.    

DENMARK (1-1-0-1) 3 vs. CZECH REPUBLIC (1-0-2-0) 2 (OT)
Mathias From made his first game of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship one to remember, scoring 47 seconds into overtime to push Denmark past the Czechs for the first time ever.

Joachim Blichfeld and Nikolaj Krag – who tied the game with just 6:24 left in regulation – also scored for the Danes, who officially locked up a spot in the quarter-finals for the third year in a row with their two points for the OT victory.

The Czechs got goals from Martin Necas and Filip Hronek while earning a point for the third time in three games; they sit third in Group A with a win and a pair of extra-time losses.


Tuesday, December 27, 2016

DENMARK (1-0-0-1) 3 vs. FINLAND (0-0-0-2) 2
Denmark earned easily its biggest win ever at the IIHF World Junior Championship, and one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, shocking the defending gold medallist despite managing just 10 shots.

William Boysen, David Madsen and Joachim Blichfeld provided the offence for the Danes, who won for just the third time at the World Juniors – they beat Switzerland in 2015 and 2016. Goaltender Kasper Krog finished with 34 saves to backstop Denmark.

Urho Vaakanainen and Kasper Bjorkqvist scored third-period goals for the Finns, who have opened with consecutive regulation-time losses for the first time since 2009.

SWITZERLAND (0-1-0-0) 4 vs. CZECH REPUBLIC (1-0-1-0) 3 OT
The Swiss gave back a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes, including the game-tying goal with 16 seconds left, but Nico Hischier needed just 23 seconds of overtime to get his team the win in its tournament opener.

The 17-year-old also added two assists, and Loic In Albon, Calvin Thurkauf and Damien Riat were regulation-time goal-scorers for Switzerland. Joren van Pottelberghe starred in the Swiss goal, turning away 36 of the 39 shots directed his way.

Filip Chlapik scored twice and Radek Koblizek added one for the Czechs, who did all their scoring in the final 15 minutes. Despite the loss, they remain atop Group A with four points from two games.


Monday, December 26, 2016

CZECH REPUBLIC (1-0-0-0) 2 vs. FINLAND (0-0-0-1) 1
Michael Spacek got the game-winning goal with less than two minutes to go in the third period, leading the Czechs to a tournament-opening victory over the defending gold medallists.

Daniel Krenzelok also found the back of the net for the Czechs, who outshot Finland 30-23 and got 22 saves from goaltender Jakub Skarek to beat the Finns for just the second time in their last seven tries, dating back to the 2007 World Juniors.

An unassisted goal from Joona Luoto was the lone offence for Finland, which became the third-consecutive defending champion to drop its first preliminary-round game.

SWEDEN (1-0-0-0) 6 vs. DENMARK (0-0-0-1) 1
Sweden rode both youth and experience to an opening-game win over Denmark at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, scoring the game’s first six goals to cruise to victory.

Alexander Nylander led the way with two goals for the Swedes, while Rasmus Dahlin – just the second 16-year-old ever to play for Sweden at the World Juniors – added a goal and an assist. Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonathan Dahlen and Carl Grundstrom rounded out the scoring for the Tre Kronor.

Nikolaj Krag spoiled the shutout bid of Swedish netminder Felix Sandstrom, scoring the lone goal for Denmark with just over two minutes left.

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