Canada’s dominant goal-scoring run continued on Tuesday, with the team beating Slovakia 9-1 in its second game of the tournament.
Canada beat Switzerland 14-0 in the team’s opening contest, giving them a goal differential of 23-1 heading into the final day of round-robin action.
Brayden Yager started the fun with a power-play marker at 5:15. It was Canada’s first man advantage of the period in a frame that saw them have four, but Slovakia’s Samuel Urban looked good in the Slovak net.
Zachary Benson scored Canada’s second goal at 15:59 at 4-on-4, just three seconds after Leo Eperjesi was sent to the Slovakian penalty box for cross-checking.
The second period was a dominant effort for Canada through and through. Yager scored his second of the night at 27:40 to make it 2-0, with Tanner Howe scoring two minutes after that. Riley Heidt and Cam Allen closed out the period with their own goals, giving Canada a six-goal advantage.
Canada didn’t relent in the third period, with Heidt scoring at 44:09 and Ethan Gauthier scoring another 30 seconds later. Tanner Molendyk made it 9-0 late, and it looked like that was going to be it, but Peter Cisar scored with under four minutes to go to break Carson Bjarnason’s shutout bid. Still, Canada pulled away with the easy victory, outshooting the Slovaks 63-20.
Sweden puts nine past Switzerland
Three consecutive three-goal periods gave Sweden a commanding 9-3 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday.
It’s been a rough week for Switzerland, who lost 14-0 to Canada on the opening night. Sweden has improved to 2-0 and will face Canada to secure the top spot heading into the semifinal on Friday.
The first period was quite dramatic, with Sweden scoring three goals in the first 8:45. Noel Nordh’s power-play goal at 1:46 got things started before Lucas Kling and Noel Nordh scored one each at 5:18 and 8:45, respectively.
Switzerland had something to cheer about late in the first when Tim Horak found Simon Meier for the 4-1 goal, but the damage had already been done. At 28:51, Otto Stenberg scored with just seven seconds to go in Eric Schneller’s tripping penalty to make it 5-1 Sweden.
Leo Braillard scored on the next shift to make it 5-2, but Lukas Sagranden and Wille Johansson scored a minute apart late in the second to put it far out of reach.
Braillard scored again for the Swiss to make it 6-2 at 43:52 in what was turning out to be a strong night for the forward. But goals for Gustaf Kangas, Theo Lindstein and Hugo Pettersson capped off a dominant effort for Sweden, who had a 40-19 shot advantage.
Finland continues strong run against Germany
Finland will play in the semifinal on Friday after a 4-1 win over Germany.
2024 draft prospect Aron Kiviharju was the star of the show, recording three assists, including two in the opening period. Rasmus Kumpulainen was the benefactor at 3:35 on the power play, while Emil Jarventie scored at 8:47 to prevent the Germans from taking any of the momentum away.
Finland outshot Germany 14-2 in the second, with Otso Ylitalo and Jesse Kisskinen capitalizing in that frame to finish off the team’s scoring.
Kevin Bicker scored Germany’s lone goal just 11 seconds into the third, but Finland netminder Eemil Vinni stood tall the rest of the way to keep the game in Finland’s favor.
