WJC Today - Day 7 Recap

Russia 2 , Czech Republic 1 - Summary

The Russians were victorious Monday night as they defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 in overtime to advance to the semi-finals. Zheldakov scored at 1:03 of overtime, as the Czechs suffered a devastating loss.

Daniil Apalkov and Grigori Zheldakov were the scorers for Team Russia. 17-year-old Andrei Vasilevski stopped 43 shots for the Russians.

Oceanic forward Jakub Culek scored the lone goal for the Czech Republic.

The Russians are set to face Team Canada tonight, the first time they’ve met since they upset Canada last year in the finals, capturing the gold medal.

Finland 8 , Slovakia 5 - Summary

Led by Mikael and Markus Granlund, Team Finland advances to the semi-finalsafter a 8-5 victory over Slovakia. Temmu Pulkkinen had a goal and an assist, while Joel Armia, Roope Hamalainen, Alexsander Barkov and Joonas Donskoialso scored.

Barkov, 16, is the youngest player to ever score in tournament history, passing Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby by 21 days .

Richard Mraz had a goal and two helpers, while Matus Chovan and Marko Dano each had a goal and an assist for Team Slovakia. Marerk Tverdon and Martin Daloga also scored.

Sami Aittokallio stopped 24 shots for Finland, while Juraj Simboch made 30 saves for the Slovaks.

Switzerland 4 , Denmark 3 - Summary

Tanner Richard scored in overtime as Team Switzerland defeated Denmark in a Relegation match-up.

Cedric Schneuwly, Alessio Bertaggia and Gregory Hofmannalso scored for the Swiss.

Nicklas Jensen and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored for Team Denmark.

WJC Today - Day 7 Preview

It's day seven of the World Junior Hockey Championships and there are three games on the clock.

Round robin is now over and team's will now be competing in either the relegation round or the quarter finals.

The scene will now shift to the Pengrowth Saddledom in Calgary, Alta.

Switzerland and Denmark will battle in a relegation-round match at 1 p.m. EST. Switzerland finished round robin with a 1-2-1 record. Denmark lost all four of their games in round robin.

At 5 p.m EST, Slovakia and Finland will battle against each other to earn a spot in tomorrow night's semi-finals match up against Sweden. The loser will play on Wednesday Jan. 4 to qualify for the Bronze medal game.

Slovakia finished the round robin with a 2-2 record for a third place finish in Pool A. They were led by Saint John Sea Dogs forward Tomas Jurco with a goal and six points.

Finland finished second in Pool B with a 3-1 record and were led by Teemu Pulkkinen's five goals and eight points.

Goaltender Christopher Gibson of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens has appeared in two games recording a 4.50 goals-against-average.

Last but not least, is the Czech Republic battling Russia in the second quarter final game of the night at 9 p.m. EST.

Russia finished second place in Pool A with a 3-0-1 record. The Russians are led by Nikita Gusev and Yevgeni Kuznetsov with three goals and nine points each.

Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko has two goals and four points.

The Czech Republic finished third place in Pool B with a 2-2 record and were led by Petr Mrazek's solid goaltending.

The winner will advance to play Canada tomorrow night in the semi-finals. The loser will play on Wednesday Jan. 4 to qualify for the Bronze medal game.

Photo courtesy of TSN.ca

WJC Today - Day 5 Preview

Day five of the World Junior Hockey Champions is here and we have four games on the schedule today.

The first game on the schedule is the U.S.A. battling the Czech Republic at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alta. at 3:30 p.m. EST. Both teams will be looking for their second wins of the tournament.

The Czechs are led by Rimouski Oceanic's Jakub Culek's three points (0-3) so far in two games. Jiri Riha, Radek Faksa, Petr Holik, Tomas Hertl (2), Dmitrij Jaskin and Tomas Filippi all have goals for the Czech Republic.

The United States are led by Charlie Coyle's three goals and four points in two games. The American forward will be reporting to the Saint John Sea Dogs shortly after the tournament.

Second game of the day is Slovakia and Sweden taking to the ice in Calgary, Alta. at 5:30 p.m. EST. Sweden will be looking for their third win of the tournament, as Slovakia will look to pick up their second win.

Sweden is led by Max Friberg (5-0) and Ludvig Rensfeldt (1-4) who have five points in the country's two games.

The Slovaks scoring has been led by Michael Toman (1-1) and Milos Bubela, each with two points. Saint John Sea Dogs forward Tomas Jurco has one goal in the tournament.

The third game on the schedule is Denmark battling Finland in Edmonton, Alta. at 8 p.m. EST.

Denmark will look to pick up their first win of the tournament as they sit at the bottom of Pool B with no wins and three losses.

Finland on the other hand, will look for their second win of the tournament. Finland is coming off a big upset win over the Americans 4-1 on Tuesday Dec. 27.

The Finns are led by Joel Armia who has two goals and three points.

Denmark has only managed to score five goals so far in three games and have gotten goals from Thomas Spelling, Emil Kristensen, Mathias Bau-Hansen (2) and Nicolai Meyer.

Fourth on the schedule is Latvia and Switzerland at 10 p.m. EST in Calgary, Alta.

Both teams are winless and look for their first wins tonight.

WJC Today - Day 4 Recap

There were only two games on the World Junior Hockey Championship schedule last night. Here are quick recaps of both games.

Canada 10, Denmark 2: Summary
The first game of the day was the Canadians taking on Denmark in Edmonton, Alta. Brandon Gormley and Mark Stone led the way for Canada with a pair of goals and an assist each. Quinton Howden, Brett Connolly, Ryan Strome, Scott Harrington, Freddie Hamilton and Brendan Gallagher picked up singles for Canada. Nicolai Meyer and Emil Kristensen scored for Denmark. Gormley was Canada's Player of the Game while Nicklas Jensen picked up the prize for the Danes.

Russia 14, Latvia 0: Summary
Game two of the day was the Russians against Latvia. Russia dominated the game with a 14-0 win. Yevgeni Kuznetsov led the Russians with 9 points tying him for the all-time WJC record of most points in a single game with Peter Forsberg.

Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko scored the Russians first goal before leaving the game in the second period with a foot injury. He would not return. He had an X-Ray and it showed no fractures in his leg.

Standings

Group A

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
SWE	2	1	0	1	0	5
RUS	2	1	0	0	0	3
SVK	2	1	1	0	0	3
SUI	2	0	1	0	1	1
LAT	2	0	2	0	0	0

Group B

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
CAN	2	2	0	0	0	6
CZE	2	1	1	0	0	3
FIN	2	1	1	0	0	3
USA	2	1	1	0	0	3
DEN	2	0	2	0	0	0

Scoring leaders can be seen Here.

Photo: Hockey Canada

WJC Today - Day 4 Preview

There are two games on the schedule tonight as we are set for day number four at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Alberta.

Canada is set to take on Denmark at 8 p.m. EST in Edmonton, Alta. Canada sits in first place in Pool B with two wins for six points. They also have a tremendous 13 goals-for and just one-goal-against so far in the tournament.

Canada is coming off a 5-0 blanking over the Czechs last night and will look to continue their quest for gold tonight. Denmark is coming off a 7-0 blanking to the Czechs on Tuesday.

Denmark sits in last place in Pool B with two losses in two games. They have only found the back of the net three times and have 18 goals-against.

Jonathan Huberdeau (1-5) and Ryan Strome (2-4) lead the way for Canada with six points each. Mark Stone (4-0) and Tanner Pearson (4-0) have also been chipping in for Canada.

It was announced yesterday during the game against the Czech Republic, that Mark Vistenin will get the start tonight against Denmark.

Leading scorer for Denmark is Nicklas Jensen with three assists in two games. It is unclear of the starting goaltender for Denmark tonight.

The game will be broadcasted live on TSN.

The other tilt tonight is Russia battling Latvia in Calgary, Alta. Russia tops Pool A with two wins and six points.

Latvia sits at the bottom of Pool A with no wins in their two games.

Russia is coming off a 3-1 win over Slovakia last night as Latvia is coming off a 3-1 loss to Slovakia on Tuesday night.

Leading the way for Russia is Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko with a goal and three points in two games.

Leading the way for Latvia are Roberts Lipsbergs (2-0) and Juris Ziemins (1-1) with two points each.

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