Sweden vs Czech Republic
Time: 1 pm Eastern Time
Location: Bell Center
Streaming: TSN 3/5
USA vs. Canada
Time: 3:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Air Canada Center
Streaming: NHL Network, TSN 1/3/4/5
Finland vs. Switzerland
Time: 5:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Bell Center
Streaming: NHL Network TSN 3/5
Russia vs. Slovakia
Time: 8 pm Eastern Time
Location: Air Canada Center
Streaming: TSN 1/3/4/5
Recap of Thursday night’s game
Switzerland 5, Denmark 4 (SO)
The Swiss came from behind and eventually won in the shootout — and the victory had reverberations throughout the entire tournament. The victory means defending WJC champ Finland has been dropped to the relegation round. The woefully underperforming Finns have not yet won a game in the tournament. All three losses have come in overtime. It also means that it’s the first time in WJC history that a team followed up its WJC-winning gold medal with relegation play the following year.
The reaction was swift for Finland: The entire coaching staff was fired, the head coach and three assistant coaches..
Slovakia 4, Latvia 2
Slovakia took the early lead and never looked back in their victory. Latvia dropped to 0-4-0 in the tournament, and will face Finland in the relegation round.
Previewing Canada vs. USA
Coach Ducharme announces that Connor Ingram will start for Canada today
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 31, 2016
For the two North American neighbors/competitors, this New Year’s Eve preliminary round showdown couldn’t have been scripted any better. Team Canada and Team USA are both undefeated thus far, so there’s a lot at stake: the top seed of the Group B standings as the WJC moves into the quarterfinal next week.
The Americans are coming off a huge victory against Russia 3-2, and by doing so, they got rid of some demons: USA’s World Junior team hadn’t defeated Russia since 2007.
The Canadians, meanwhile, are coming off a 10-2 win against lowly Latvia. That they even gave up the two goals could be a cause for concern. Latvia kept up in the first period with getting shots through, and if USA can tighten up on defense, that could spell trouble for Canada. However, it’s hard to see the Americans matching Canada’s offensive fire. The Americans though have scored 14 goals while giving up four in three games. Canada has scored 20 (remember that half was to one team) and have given up five as well, all given up by Carter Hart.
Whether Canada continues to switch off with their starting goaltenders remains to be seen, but it should be Lightning prospect Connor Ingram who starts this afternoon. It’s not easy to only face six shots during a full hockey game. But he got that shutout in the second game, and having him between the pipes against Team USA will give a clear picture as to who the Canadians should run with in the quarterfinal next week.
Team Canada
Forwards
Pierre-Luc Dubois – Dylan Strome – Blake Speers
Mathieu Joseph – Mathew Barzal – Taylor Raddysh
Tyson Jost – Nicolas Roy – Julien Gauthier
Dillon Dubé – Anthony Cirelli – Mitchell Stephens
Michael McLeod
Defense
Thomas Chabot – Philippe Myers
Jake Bean – Noah Juulsen
Kale Clague – Dante Fabbro
Jeremy Lauzon
Goaltenders
Connor Ingram
Carter Hart
Team USA
Forward Lines
Clayton Keller – Colin White – Joey Anderson
Jordan Greenway – Luke Kunin – Jeremy Bracco
Kiefer Bellows – Jack Roslovic – Tage Thompson
Erik Foley – Tanner Laczynski – Troy Terry
Defense Pairings
Caleb Jones – Charlie McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
Jack Ahcan – Joe Cecconi
Goaltenders
Tyler Parsons
Joseph Woll
