US, Canada open with victories at world junior hockey championship in Sweden

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This article was published 26/12/2023 (1010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (AP) — Mathis Rousseau made 24 saves, including a spectacular glove stop in the first period, while Owen Allard and Macklin Celebrini both scored as Canada opened the world junior hockey championship with a 5-2 victory over Finland on Tuesday.

Nate Danielson added a goal and an assist before Matthew Poitras and Maveric Lamoureux scored into the empty net as the annual under-20 tournament began with four games in pool play.

Slovakia beat Czechia 6-2, Sweden beat Latvia 6-0 and the United States beat Norway 4-1 in the other games. Gavin Brindley scored twice in a 2:33 span of the second period for the Americans, who got 22 saves from Trey Augustine.

“I thought we got better as the game went on,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “And our goaltending was excellent. We have some things to work on, but it’s nice to get a win to start the tournament.”

Jimmy Snuggerud and Isaac Howard also scored for the United States. Petter Vesterheim scored the lone goal for Norway while Markus Stensrud turned away 40 shots.

Norway held the U.S. scoreless in the first period before Snuggerud sparked a three-goal American run in the second. Vesterheim cut into the lead at 4:18 of the third but Howard restored the three-goal margin just 25 seconds later.

CANADA 5 FINLAND 2

Canada, the two-time defending gold medalist looking for its first three-peat since 2009, has just one returning player from the 2023 event in Halifax.

“Unbelievable,” said Rousseau, a native of Boisbriand, Quebec. “Growing up you see world juniors, it’s something big. And now I’m here. Make a great save for the team and then we won. Makes the moment even more special.”

Canada is in Group A with the Finns, Swedes, Latvia and Germany. Group B consists of the U.S., Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Norway.

Thousands of Canadians have descended on this city of roughly 600,000 on Sweden’s west coast for the tournament. The stands were filled with red on Boxing Day.

“Incredible seeing the amount of fans,” Rousseau said. “Cheering for us on this ice, in this rink. It means a lot.”

Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Jere Lassila scored for Finland. Niklas Kokko made 26 saves.

SWEDEN 6, LATVIA 0

Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored twice in Sweden’s rout.

Lekkerimaki, who’s playing in his third world juniors, was drafted by the Canucks 15th overall in the 2022 NHL draft. Filip Bystedt also scored twice, while Anton Wahlberg and Felix Unger Sorum had one goal each for the host country. Theo Lindstein pitched in with two assists.

Hugo Havelid stopped all 20 shots he faced for Sweden. Counterpart Deivs Rolovs made 29 saves for Latvia.

Wahlberg opened the scoring 10:02 into the first period and Sweden never looked back. Bystedt added another in the opening frame before he and Lekkerimaki each scored in the second.

The country is hosting the event for the seventh time, and the first since 2014 in Malmo. Sweden lost 8-7 in overtime to the United States in the bronze-medal game a year ago in Halifax.

SLOVAKIA 6 CZECHIA 2

Servac Petrovsky had two goals and an assist as Slovakia dominated Czechia.

Samuel Honzek and Maxim Strbak added a goal and an assist each, while Boris Zabka and Peter Repcik also scored. Filip Mesar and Jozek Kmec contributed two assists each.

Adam Gajan made 27 saves to backstop the Slovakians while Michael Hrabal stopped 28 shots for Czechia, which got goals from Dominic Rymon and Matyas Sapovaliv.

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