USA Crushes Austria, Stay Perfect
Steven Ellis/The Hockey News
It wasn’t expected to be a close game and the result ultimately showed that, with the United States beating Austria 7-0.
USA and Sweden will play for what should be the top spot in Group B on Sunday, marking the final preliminary round game for the Americans.
USA outshot Austria by a score of 56-15.
On USA’s first shot of the game, Wyatt Kaiser’s wrister from the point beat Leon Sommer to make it 1-0. Two shots later at 2:32, Matthew Coronato, who assisted on Kaiser’s goal, scored one of his own on a Logan Cooley feed to make it 2-0. Kaiser scored another goal that floated over traffic in front of Sommer at 11:40 and Red Savage completed the period with a fourth goal, giving USA a big advantage in a period that saw them outshoot Austria 26-5.
The second period wasn’t as offense-heavy, but USA still had full control. Carter Mazur scored twice in a minute to make it 6-0. In the final minute, Charlie Stramel fed Sasha Pastujov near the goal line, who scored with one of the smallest openings possible just beside the head of Leon Sommer for the 7-0 goal.
Canada Beats Czechia in Spirited Affair
Steven Ellis/The Hockey News
Canada has a chance to win Group A before the end of the round robin after beating Czechia 6-1 on Saturday.
Canada has a perfect 3-0-0-0 record heading into the team’s final preliminary round game, sitting ahead of Finland after the Finns required overtime to beat Czechia earlier in the tournament. Finland will play its third game against Slovakia on Sunday.
Despite Canada’s strong game, they actually surrendered the first goal of the game on a five-minute power play. A minute after Jaroslav Chmelar was ejected for a check from behind, Martin Rysavy scored on a breakaway attempt after just getting his shot under the board.
From there, though, it was all Canada. At 16:44, Jack Thompson’s shot was deflected in by Mason McTavish to tie it up. At 19:00, Kent Johnson scored one of the best goals of the playoffs when he pulled off a lacrosse-style goal, going high right shoulder over Tomas Suchanek for the go-ahead goal.
Canada scored another two in the second period, a frame that saw Canada control most of the play. Ridly Greig scored on a power-play at 24:48 after tipping in Ronan Seeley’s point shot for his second of the tournament. Then, at 31:05, McTavish grabbed his second of the night after Connor Bedard set him up for a breakaway, making no mistake on the play for the goal.
Tyson Foerster scored the lone goal of the third, sending a blast past Suchanek for the sixth Canadian goal. Despite allowing six, Suchanek was a standout performer in the game, making 52 stops in a busy night for the undrafted goaltending prospect.
Germany Stops Switzerland’s Late Attack
Steven Ellis/The Hockey News
Germany has moved safely into third place in Group B after beating Switzerland 3-2 on Saturday evening to close out the day’s action in Edmonton.
Germany now has two wins, putting them third in the group with just one game against Sweden on Monday. Switzerland will face Austria in the early game on Monday to decide who moves on to the quarterfinal.
Bennet Rossmy scored the game’s first goal, with his shot catching Kevin Pasche off guard with a quick wrister to make it 1-0. Three minutes later, Thomas Heigl scored after Yannick Proske’s shot was fanned, with Heigl getting the loose disk and beating Pasche to make it 2-0. The Swiss needed a goal in the first to gain some momentum, and at 19:51, Simon Knak scored on a 2-on-1 with Dario Allenspach to make it 2-1 and give the Swiss fans in attendance something to get excited about.
Unfortunately for the Swiss, they couldn’t capitalize. On the rush at 36:43, Haakon Hanelt found an opening underneath Pasche’s blocker to make it 3-1, a lead that felt safe… until it wasn’t.
With 8:20 left in the game, Switzerland got a huge goal when Jonas Taibel scored on a power-play rebound opportunity to make it 3-2. Switzerland then held much of the pressure in the immediate aftermath, but Germany held on until the very end to win the game.
