Canada did the work to top its pool at the world junior men s hockey championship and earn an advantageous quarterfinal matchup with the Czech Republic.However, Canada head coach Andre Tourigny said . . .
Donna Spencer
Canada s Dylan Cozens (22) is stopped by Finland goalie Kari Piiroinen (1) during third period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship action in Edmonton, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson January 01, 2021 - 4:10 PM
Canada did the work to top its pool at the world junior men s hockey championship and earn an advantageous quarterfinal matchup with the Czech Republic.
However, Canada head coach Andre Tourigny said the Czechs finishing fourth in their pool doesn t make them a pushover. We need to remain humble, the coach said Friday.
Saturday s other quarterfinal matchups will see Slovakia face the U.S., Russia take on Germany, and Sweden battle Finland.
Hear from LA Kings prospects from their time in the World Juniors preliminary rounds. All 9 participating Kings prospects have advanced to the quarterfinals, which are slated to begin tomorrow.
Here’s how the quarterfinal matchups stack up –
Canada (Byfield, Spence) vs. Czech Republic (Parik)
USA (Turcotte, Kaliyev, Faber) vs. Slovakia (Chromiak)
Finland (Simontaival) vs. Sweden (Bjornfot)
Russia vs. Germany
On Scoring First vs. Sweden:
Getting that first goal is obviously huge. We started off with a good forecheck and threw a greasy one on net and got lucky there. We were playing the right way, and to get one on the board right away – we knew they played last night and they were a little tired – so it was a big confidence booster.
Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images
One of the more fascinating games for everyone interested in Montreal Canadiens draft picks, a Czech team led by Jan Mysak, brimming with confidence after an impressive win against Russia, would face off against Cole Caufield’s Team USA. United States came back and demolished Austria with double digits after losing to the Russians in the opener. Would the Czech Republic be able to maintain their strong defensive showing against the powerful American offence?
Well, originally that was definitely the case. By controlling the neutral zone with their trap-style defence, the Czechs stopped USA before they could even get into the dangerous areas around goalie Lukas Parik. The first period ended goalless, meaning that the Europeans had gone four period against two of the group’s heavyweights without letting in a single goal, an impressive feat for a lesser roster.
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