Canada defeats Switzerland at World Juniors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/01/2011 (5585 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUFFALO – Up  next, Team USA.

Team Canada dusted off a plucky squad from Switzerland 4-1 in Sunday’s World junior quarterfinal to advance to a showdown with arch-rival Team USA on Monday (6:30 p.m/TSN).

Entering the tournament, both the Canadians and Americans were widely expected to meet in the gold-medal final, just as they did last year in Saskatoon, with the Yanks prevailing 6-5 in overtime.

But Canada’s 6-5 overtime shootout loss to Sweden on Friday forced the Canucks to take the long road through the Swiss in the quarterfinal, while the Americans, who earned a bye out of the preliminary round, waited to face the winner.

It wasn’t a free pass for Canada, either. In fact, the Swiss took a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game when a sharp-angle shot by Anti Pestoni eluded Canadian goaltender Mark Visentin just 69 seconds into the game. Visentin had replaced teammate Olivier Roy, who started all but one preliminary round game but struggled against the Swedes.

But the Canadians continued to pelt Swiss netminder Benjamin Conz – outshooting Switzerland 23-8 in the first period – and Ryan Johansen notched his second of the tournament to tie the score 1-1. In the second period, the Canadians took full control on goals from Casey Cizakas and Louis Leblanc. Canada’s Zack Kassian scored into an empty Swiss net with the pro-Canadian crowd at the HSBC Arena beginning to chant, “We want the USA!”