Canada in Control to Win Group A
Canada has locked up the Group A victory with one game left to go after beating Switzerland by a score of 7-0 on Friday evening.
From the get-go, Canada was the more dominant team, leading the shot count 12-2 through 20 minutes. Dylan Guenther would open the scoring on the power-play after capitalizing on Dylan Guenther’s pass, beating Mathieu Croce for the 1-0 goal.
Many scouts were wondering when Connor Bedard was going to score his first Team Canada goal and at 14:05, he finally would get it. Logan Stankoven served him up a perfect pass in the slot and ripped it past Croce for the goal.
The second period was the Francesco Pinelli show. At 21:48, he finished off the passing play of Olen Zellweger and Danny Zhilkin for the 3-0 goal, only to score a power-play marker four minutes later. Pinelli scored his third goal of the night and Brennan Othmann and Corson Ceulemans both added goals with the man advantage to make it five goals on the power play and seven total in a completely one-sided effort.
Canada will finish off Group A play against Belarus, a team that could still finish second in the group – although Sweden would have to lose against Latvia.
Finland Utterly Dominant Against Germany
There was never any doubt who would take the victory on Friday as Finland easily cruised to a 10-0 win over Germany.
Absolutely nothing went well for Germany early. Aleksi Malinen and Niko Huuhtanen scored a goal each by the 2:11 mark of the game on consecutive plays before taking a too-many-men penalty.
It didn’t really matter because at 7:02, Sami Paivarinta scored on a shorthanded effort, only for Germany to take a pair of penalties just 12 seconds apart. Samu Tuomaala sent his patented one-timer past Luca Ganz to make it 4-0 and Joakim Kemell scored on another man advantage to open the scoring up to 5-0.
The Germans would take a pair of penalties five minutes into the second period, including a 2+10 from Bennet Rossmy for a boarding misconduct. Huuhtanen and Samu Salminen would make them pay with goals a minute apart before Viljami Juusola added one with just a second left on the board in the middle stanza to make it 8-0.
Salminen and Ville Koivunen capped things off to make it 10-0, finishing off the second biggest rout of the tournament behind Canada’s 12-1 win over Sweden on Tuesday.
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Three Stars
1. Francesco Pinelli, F (CAN): Two goals took any momentum away from Switzerland to help seal the deal. Finished with a hat-trick and an extra assist.
2. Sami Paivartina, F (FIN): Best player on the ice and he was rewarded dearly with a goal and two assists.
3. Niko Huuhtanen, F (FIN): Two goals and an unstoppable game from the forward.
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Final Day of Round Robin Schedule
Latvia vs. Sweden – 5:00 PM ET
Russia vs. Czech Republic – 5:00 PM ET
Canada vs. Belarus – 9:00 PM ET
USA vs. Finland- 9:00 PM ET
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Standings
Group A:
1. Canada, 9
2. Belarus, 6
3. Sweden, 6
4. Switzerland, 3
5. Latvia, 0
Group B:
1. Finland, 8
2. Russia, 6
3. USA, 6
4. Czech Republic, 4
5. Germany, 0
