Canada cruises past Slovaks
LEKSAND, Sweden (CP) - Winning isn't enough for the Canadian junior men's hockey team at this point.
Canada concluded the preliminary round with a 3-0 win over Slovakia on Sunday to go undefeated in four games and the Canadians accomplished that on the strength of excellent special teams and goaltending.
But there was no swagger in the team on Sunday.
"We haven't won anything yet so for sure we have a lot left to do," defenceman Luc Bourdon said.
The defending champions have outscored their opposition 14-4 so far.
"We've done some good things," was as much praise as head coach Craig Hartsburg would give.
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Kris Russell scored a pair of goals for the second game in a row and Steve Downie of the Peterborough Petes collected his third goal of the tournament in the win over Slovakia.
Goaltender Carey Price of the Tri-City Americans earned his second shutout by stopping 32 shots.
Canada's opponent in Wednesday's semifinal will be the winner of a quarter-final match between Finland and the U.S. on Tuesday.
Russia also went 4-0 to top Group B and awaits the quarter-final winner between Sweden and the Czech Republic.
If Sweden advances, the host country meets Russia in the later semifinal Wednesday and Canada will play in the earlier game (TSN, 10 a.m. ET).
If Sweden gets knocked out, Canada will play the late semifinal (TSN, 1:30 p.m. ET).
The Americans pulled out a 3-2 win in overtime over Sweden on Sunday. A loss would have dropped the U.S. to the relegation round.
Russia hammered Finland 5-0 to secure the bye and the Czech Republic got into the medal round with a 4-2 win over Switzerland.
As expected, Canada's defencemen have been the key to the team's success so far.
They've kept shots where Price can see them, which has helped him to a 1.00 goals-against average.
"It's easy to play with a team like that," Price said. "They really helped me out."
The back end has been positionally sound and supported their defence partners with smart backchecking in the rare instances there's been a breach on the blue-line.
Their savvy passing has generated scoring chances for the forwards and the defencemen also account for over a third of Canada's goals.
Russell leads the team with four, which is the most by any Canadian defenceman at a world junior tournament.
"Everyone is contributing and doing what they can and not playing out of their boundaries and really playing a team game," Russell said.
Val-d'Or Foreurs defenceman Kris Letang, also Canada's captain, has five assists and Bourdon of the Moncton Wildcats has a goal and two assists.
Price may get a lot of help from his defencemen, but he has faced over 30 shots in three of the four preliminary-round games.
He's a major reason why Canada's penalty kill is the best in the tournament as he has made game-saving stops when his team has had a player or two in the penalty box, as it did often against Slovakia.
Half of Canada's goals have been scored with a man advantage, but Russia and Finland have better power-play percentages than Canada.
Canada needs to get more goal production at even strength.
The trio of centre Andrew Cogliano and wingers Steve Downie and Brad Marchand has stayed intact since selection camp. Downie, of the Peterborough Petes, leads all forwards with three goals and two assists.
But head coach Craig Hartsburg has been mixing and matching his other three lines looking for sparks.
Jonathan Toews and Ryan O'Marra had their third different left-winger Sunday as Tom Pyatt was moved up from third-line centre.
Bryan Little was shifted into the middle between Sam Gagner and Kenndal McArdle for Sunday's game.
"There's some players there playing extremely hard for us and not getting results," Hartsburg said. "Maybe some guys are having tough luck around the net and they've just got to stay with it."
Plymouth Whalers forward James Neal did not dress Sunday because of a sore groin, which meant a regular shift for McArdle. Hartsburg said Neal should be ready to play Wednesday.
Notes: Canada has not lost a game at the world junior tournament since the 2004 final against the U.S. - a streak of 16 straight games ... Russell's fourth goal moved him ahead of a group of Canadian defencemen who had three, including Bryan McCabe of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Wade Redden of the Ottawa Senators, Jamie Rivers of the St. Louis Blues (1995), Gary Leeman (1984) and Fred Boimistruck (1981) ... Carlo Colaiacovo of the Toronto Maple Leafs holds the record for most points by a Canadian defenceman in the tournament at 10 (one goal, nine assists).
Americans through after OT win
Canadian Press
12/31/2006 3:49:34 PM
LEKSAND, Sweden (CP) - The Americans made it into the medal round at the world junior hockey championships by the skin of their teeth.
Defenceman Jack Johnson scored in overtime as the U.S. pulled out a 3-2 win against Sweden in their last preliminary-round game on Sunday.
A loss would have put the Americans in the relegation round and battling just to remain in the A world championship.
Fredrik Pettersson of the Calgary Hitmen scored for Sweden with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.
But Johnson scored the winner at 3:16 in overtime, with a second left in a power play, to get the U.S. into Tuesday's quarter-finals.
"Thank God," said Johnson. "Our hearts sunk when Sweden scored that goal in the last few seconds, but our team regrouped well in overtime and we didn't quit.
"We were a desperate hockey team, so, yeah, we lived to die another day here."
In other games Sunday, Canada beat Slovakia 3-0, Russia blanked Finland 5-0 and the Czech Republic defeated Switzerland 4-2.
Canada and Russia topped Groups A and B respectively with 4-0 records to gets byes to Wednesday's semifinals.
The Swedes picked up a point for the overtime loss to end up second behind Canada, followed by the U.S. in third. Finland and the Czech Republic finished second and third respectively in Group B.
So Finland and the U.S. meet in one quarter-final with the winner taking on Canada, while Russia awaits the victor between the host Swedes and the Czech Republic.
Swedish defenceman Jonas Ahnelov was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking in overtime, which gave the U.S. the man advantage.
Sweden led 1-0 on Andreas Thuresson's goal, but Pat Kane of the OHL's London Knights tied the game and Ryan Stoa gave the U.S. the lead until Pettersson deadlocked the game.
"After that final buzzer sounded, we just regrouped," said American captain Taylor Chorney. "There was no time to sit there and sulk about anything because if we lost that game we were going home.
"There was no way we were leaving this rink without a win."
The U.S. was considered one of the favourites with a load of NHL drafted players, but the team got off to a terrible start with a 2-1 overtime loss to lightly regarded Germany, which was promoted from the B world championship, followed by a 6-3 loss to Canada.
"I don't know if we'd call it underachieving," said Chorney. "We just didn't get off to the start we wanted to. In a tournament like this, one game can cost it for you.
"After those first two losses, we were just scratching and clawing to do whatever we could to get here and we're finally here."
Johnson, who plays for the University of Michigan, was drafted third overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2005 NHL entry draft and his rights were traded in September to the Los Angeles Kings.
Czech Republic 4, Switzerland 2
At Mora, Sweden, the Czechs clinched the last quarter-final berth with a victory over Switzerland.
The Czechs took a 3-0 lead in 17 minutes on goals by Jakub Voracek, Tomas Kana and Jaroslav Barton.
Martin Hanzal also scored for the Czech Republic while Dario Burgler and Arnaud Jacquemet replied for Switzerland.
Russia 5, Finland 0
At Mora, Sweden, Ilya Zubov and Alexei Cherepanov each scored twice while Gennadi Churilov added another for Russia.
Tues, Jan. 2 10am Switzerland vs Slovakia FM Mattsson Arena, Mora -
Tues, Jan. 2 1:30pm USA vs Finland FM Mattsson Arena, Mora -
Tues, Jan. 2 1:30pm Sweden vs Czech Republic Ejandals Arena, Leksand -
Wed, Jan. 3 10am Germany vs Belarus FM Mattsson Arena, Mora -
Wed, Jan. 3 10am* Russia vs Sweden/Czech Republic Winner Ejandals Arena, Leksand -
Wed, Jan. 3 1:30pm* Canada vs USA/Finland Winner Ejandals Arena, Leksand -
* Time subject to change.
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