Ice Hockey IIHF World Championships 2017

[hckošice 14,829]

UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Denmark - Finland  3-2

 

Danes stun defending champs

Finns outshoot Denmark 36-10 but lose again

 

Denmark scored twice on three first-period shots and went on to edge defending champion Finland 3-2 in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

 

Tuesday's result marks an historic moment for the Danish program. It is the first time they have beaten anyone at the World Juniors aside from two wins over Switzerland (4-3 in a shootout on 30 December 2014; 2-1 on 27 December 2015).

"It’s always a special feeling when you get a win against another country you’ve never had a win against," said Danish assistant captain Christan Mieritz. "It’s a special team, the 1997-age. We have really good chemistry on the team. I guess that’s why we won today."

 

Goalie Kasper Krog made 34 stops for the shocking victory. He might be Denmark’s shortest player at 175 cm, but the blue-masked 18-year-old from SonderjyskE Vojens stood tall in his World Junior debut, boosting his team's hopes of making the quarter-finals for the third straight year.

"It’s incredible to get a win in my first World Junior game, but the most important thing is that we get the three points," said Krog. "That’s what counts."

William Boysen, David Madsen and Joachim Blichfeld scored for the opportunistic Danes, who took just 10 shots. Urho Vaakanainen and Kasper Bjorkqvist replied for Finland.

"We always should beat Denmark, or at least score more goals than two goals with those shots," said Finnish captain Olli Juolevi. "I don’t know. There are no excuses."

 

Finland, the defending champions, could be in trouble here after falling 2-1 to the Czechs on Michael Spacek’s late winner on Day One.

 

Finnish goalie Veini Vehvilainen was yanked in favour of backup Karolus Kaarlehto after a shaky first period. Last year, the JYP Jyvaskyla product was also the starter, but was replaced by Kaapo Kahkonen during the playoff games en route to home-ice gold.

 

Still, it’s hard to blame your goaltending when your team produces just three goals in two games.

 

So far, the Finns look as snake-bitten offensively as they were in 2015, the last time Montreal hosted the World Juniors. Like this year, they came to the Bell Centre as the reigning World Junior gold medalists, but the Artturi Lehkonen-captained squad scored just five goals in four group games, and finished seventh.

"We don’t feel good, but the most important thing is for us just to believe in ourselves and keep going," said Kaarlehto. "It’s just hockey."

Only a handful of upsets compare to this one.

In 1998, newly promoted Kazakhstan beat Canada 6-3, but that was in the seventh-place game, when Canada, the ‘97 champion, had little to play for. That same year, Switzerland beat the Swedes 2-1 in the quarter-final and the Czechs 4-3 in the bronze medal game. Belarus beat the host U.S. 5-3 at the 2005 tournament and edged Finland 4-3 at the 2007 tournament. 2009 saw Slovakia trump the U.S. 5-3 in the quarter-final, and 2010 witnessed another quarter-final upset with Switzerland shocking Russia 4-3 in overtime.

 

The Danes were looking to bounce back after falling 6-1 to Sweden in their opener. And boy, did they ever. Special teams were key, as they killed off all six minors they took.

 

They also capitalized with their first man advantage. Nicolai Weichel’s centre point shot was bobbled by Vehvilainen, and Boysen backhanded in the loose puck at 5:20.

 

Subsequently, the Danes were almost completely hemmed in their own zone. But they were alert when the Finns turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Madsen took a pass from Morten Jensen and zapped one past Vehvilainen’s glove from the top of the left faceoff circle at 17:40.

 

In the last minute of the first period, Otto Koivula split the Danish defence on a breakaway, but Krog foiled his five-hole attempt. Denmark was up 2-0 after 20 minutes despite being outshot 14-3.

 

In the second period, the Finns kept firing away from every angle. Three minutes in, Krog stymied Julius Nattinen while sitting down in his crease under siege.

"Krog did an amazing job out there," said Mieritz. "Incredible job. He kept us in the game. I take my hat off to him today."

 

Denmark jumped into a 3-0 lead with 4:07 left in the middle frame. Jonas Rondbjerg centered the puck from the corner to Blichfeld, who was unchecked on the doorstep and knocked it in. It was Denmark’s second shot of the period.

"It’s unbelievably tough," said Juolevi. "It’s not easy, especially when the other team is just putting the puck into the neutral zone and you have to try to run their wall. But we should have done that.

 

Finland struck back to make it 3-1 at 4:17 of the third. Vaakanainen’s high shot sailed through traffic and spoiled Krog’s shutout bid.

Guts and willpower kept the Danes going as the clock ticked down. Christian Mathiasen-Weisje blocked two shots during a Finnish man advantage with 10 minutes to go.

"For sure there were a lot of ice packs in the room," said Danish captain Alexander True. "I think we need to bring some more shotblockers for the skates for the next game! But that’s what it takes to win games sometimes."

The Finns made it exciting when Bjorkqvist scored on the rush at 15:30 to cut Denmark's lead to 3-2. But the comeback attempt was destined to fail. The Danes mobbed Krog at the final buzzer.

 

One thing is for sure: without Jesse Puljujarvi, Sebastian Aho, and Patrik Laine, the Finns are nowhere near last year’s offensive juggernaut. They don’t even have the one-two punch of Teuvo Teravainen and Saku Maenalanen from the 2014 gold-medal team.

 

Denmark’s only previous World Junior meeting with Finland was a 10-1 loss on December 20, 2011 in Edmonton. The lopsided defeat came with five players suspended by then-head coach Todd Bjorkstrand for staging a mock press conference after a 10-2 loss to host Canada. Danish hockey has certainly come a long way since then.

 

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UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Canada - Slovakia  5-0

 

 

 

 

 

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UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Canada - Slovakia  5-0

 

Canada explodes in 2nd for 5-0 win

Slovaks tie record with just 6 total shots

 

 

Canada broke a scoreless tie after 20 minutes with the only four goals of the second on the way to a convincing 5-0 win over Slovakia.

 

The winners got goals from five different players and points from a dozen skaters while Connor Ingram got the easiest shutout he'll ever get, stopping just six harmless shots. Only when Russia limited Belarus to six shots on December 27, 2000, has a team had so few pucks on net in U20 history.

 

Playing in their first game of this year's U20, the Slovaks might have been an equally physical team, but their inability to generate any offence cost them against what was an impressive Canadian attack. The final score flattered the Slovaks.

 

"This was our first game, and it was against the best team in the tournament," said Slovak captain Erik Cernak, playing in his record-equalling fourth U20. "It was pretty hard. Canada plays offensively all the time, and that was too powerful for us tonight."

 

"We’re a really fast team, and I think that wears other teams down," noted Taylor Raddysh, one of the goalscorers. "We have to keep leading with our strengths."

 

"Everyone knows the depth we have on this team," added Michael McLeod, another scorer. "We have shut-down guys who have great scoring ability when they get the chance. This tournament is all about winning, and everyone buys in, even if they’re only playing two shifts a period."

 

It wasn’t until 5:30 of the second period that the opening goal was posted on the scoreboard. It came courtesy of a nicely executed three-on-two rush. Tyson Jost carried the puck over the blue line, and as the defence closed in on him he dropped it back to Jeremy Lauzon, trailing on the play. Lauzon had a moment to take aim and ripped a shot over the shoulder of Adam Huska.

 

Less than six minutes later, Canada doubled its lead courtesy of a power play. This time it was a nice pass from behind the net by Pierre-Luc Dubois to Raddysh in front. Raddysh fired quickly over Huska’s glove, and the pro-Canadian crowd could breathe a sigh of relief.

 

Canada extended its lead to 3-0 at 12:37 off the draw. Lauzon’s point shot was tipped in front by Anthony Cirelli. By this point, Canada had as many goals in the game as the Slovaks had shots—three. Canada had 23 shots.

 

Canada got its second power-play marker of the period thanks to Thomas Chabot off a pass from Matt Barzal at 16:25, making the shots 30-3 in the process.

 

 

Michael McLeod added a fifth Canada goal in the third.

 

Canada has a day off before playing Latvia on Thursday while the Slovaks get back at it tomororw against the United States.

 

"We have a lot of big guys, so we have to play hard in the defensive zone," Cernak added. "We have to be better, be stronger on the puck. You can’t win with six shots, and you can’t win giving up five goals."

 

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UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Czech Republic - Switzerland  3-4  after OT

HIGHLIGHTS

 

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UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Latvia - Russia  1-9

HIGHLIGHTS

 

[hckošice 14,829]

UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Denmark - Finland  3-2

HIGHLIGHTS

 

[hckošice 14,829]

UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Canada - Slovakia  5-0

HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

pfff 6 shots cmon how is this even possible, I mean c´mon the rink isn´t 1km long or so..you can´t have only 6 shots in 60 minutes, you just have to try.... and what to say about the thing at 2:00 

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,829]

Under 20 Top Division World Championships in Canada

 

Day 3 Schedule (28th December 2016)

(GMT -5)

 

Group A (in Montreal)

17:00  Switzerland vs Sweden

 

Group B (in Toronto)

19:30  Slovakia vs USA

[hckošice 14,829]

unbelievable...6 shots on goal...for god sake..this is so humiliating, total embarassment, I thought we had the worst possible yteam the 96 year last year, but this 97 year is even worse,..the worst we ever had...well, let see what we will show tonight...otherwise we should think about forfeiting, maybe it will better...

 

but this ! seriously..embarassing as heck

 

 

[Agger 1,663]

10 hours ago, hckosice said:

@Agger this one is for you

 

UNDER 20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Denmark - Finland  3-2

 

Thanks a lot

Had to get up pretty early to go the rest of the way home, but still ended up watching all of the match (well, only found it just after the first goal)

Such a typical win by our juniors. The way we sometimes play in the defense, it's a wonder that we don't have more defensemen or goaltenders in the NHL (and KHL)