On the final day of the group stage at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships in Halifax and Moncton, it was all about the best quarter-final placements. Switzerland, who managed to turn the tide of the match after falling behind to Slovakia, finished the preliminary round in fourth place in their group, as did Germany, who clearly lost to the Czech Republic.
Switzerland – Slovakia 4: 3 nP (0: 1/1: 2/2: 0/0: 0/1: 0)
Rodwin Dionisio scored the winning goal on his 20th attempt in a long penalty shootout in Switzerland’s 4-3 win over Slovakia in Moncton. The Swiss, who came back from a 3-1 deficit after two periods, is fourth in Group B and will meet the Group A champion in Halifax in the quarter-finals on Monday.
In regular time, Leket Reichel scored the provisional 1-1 equalizer early in the second half and provided an assist for Switzerland. Misha Ramell and Lorenzo Canonica each added the equalizer in the third period. Slovakia’s Servus Petrovski took the lead in the second period with two goals in 49 seconds, Adam Sikora had previously scored in the first period to give the lead. Petrovski’s two teammates, Philip Messar and Libor Nemec, contributed two assists.
Slovakian goalkeeper Adam Gagan made 32 saves in his third consecutive match. Switzerland goalkeeper Kevin Bashi returned to goal after giving way to Alessio Biglieri in the 5-1 loss to the Americans and made a solid performance with 29 saves.
Czech Republic – Germany 8: 1 (2: 0/3: 1/3: 0)
For Germany, there was nothing to go against against the Czech Republic, which is not so bad. It was clear before the match that he would not score anything more than fourth place in Group A. Even winning won’t change that.
The Czech Republic made a strong start and kept the pressure going for 60 minutes. In the penultimate match of Group A, the team defeated Germany 8-1, showing a number of impressive moves and goals. The victory was impressive and showed that the opening victory over Canada was no fluke as the Czechs look to win a medal at the World Junior Championships for the first time since 2005.
The Czech team 54:19 shot on goal in their favor and they really deserved the victory. Jaroslav Schmielar scored two goals and one assist, while Martin Resavy and Gabriel Storck contributed one goal and two assists. Jakub Brabanek has three assists. The goal on the German side was scored by striker Veit Oswald (33), who was also named German Player of the Year. Nikita Kwabe started the German who only had to concede two goals in 26 shots on goal until he was substituted at 28:47 minutes. Then his representative Simon Wolff had to get behind him six times on his 28 shots on goal.
Germany captain Bennett Rossmi said: “We knew we were already in the quarter-finals, but we tried to play a good game to gain confidence for Tuesday. We didn’t play well, but everyone knows what we’ve got for the next game. It’s a big deal for Germany to be We’re in the quarter-finals but we’re not done yet. I think we can go further if we work hard, put the puck in the net and do the little things right.”
Opponents of the German team in the quarterfinals will be the United States.
“We played two good games during the group stage, but we also noticed after back-to-back matches that we couldn’t keep up both physically and running,” says DEB coach Tobias Abstreiter. “Overall, I have to say that the team tried a lot. We reached our internal goal and are now back in the quarter-finals. The boys can be very proud of that. We will try to recharge so that we can then make it to the quarter-finals to make a match again,” he said. It is the case against Sweden or Austria.”
USA 6-2 Finland (1-1 / 3-1 / 2-0)
With a clear victory over Finland 6-2, the United States secured victory in Group B. Jimmy Sngerud scored a goal and three assists for the Americans, while captains Luke Hughes and Logan Cooley each contributed a goal and an assist. Chazz Lucius, Rutger McGarrty and Lynn Hutson each scored once. The USA team’s 17-year-old was Trey Augustiner, who distinguished himself with 29 saves and his third straight win.
Lenny Haminaho responded with a goal and an assist for Finland, and Joachim Kimmel added another goal. Defender Aleksey Himmosalmi has two assists. Aku Koskinfo made his second appearance in the tournament for Finland in goal, conceding three goals on 27 shots in their 3-2 extra-time defeat by Switzerland. He came up with 24 saves.
Canada – Sweden, start at 0:30 a.m. CET
Quarter-final pairs on January 2:
USA – Germany
NN Switzerland
Finland – NN
NN – Slovakia
Best of three for staying awake on January 2nd, 3rd, and January 5th if needed:
Austria – Latvia
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