The 2014 World Junior Championships’ “final four” have been determined on Thursday. PHT already caught you up to speed on Russia’s 3-2 win against the United States, but here’s a rundown of the other three games that determined which teams made the semifinals.
Sweden’s group is being described as some as one of the best world junior teams in years. The results speak for themselves, as they’ve often dominated in going 5-0, including today’s 6-0. (In witnessing portions of the game, it seemed like 6-0 was more than a fair score ... one could argue that it could have gotten even worse.)
They’re playing for a medal for the eighth consecutive work thanks to continued strong work by their bevy of hot prospects, including Elias Lindholm (Carolina first-rounder) and Filip Forsberg (Nashville first-rounder), who have already gotten their feet wet at the NHL level.
Sweden will face Russian for the right to play for the gold.
Griffin Reinhart had a goal and assist while Canada’s other goal scorers were Anthony Mantha, Derrick Pouliot and Curtis Lazar. Zachary Fucale stopped 19 out of 20 shots for Canada.
The Canadian Press captures Canada’s profund advantage over the Swiss over the years:
Curtis Lazar and defenceman Derrick Pouliot also scored for Canada, which is 20-0-0 and has a 130-34 goal advantage all-time against the Swiss at the world juniors.
Canada’s opponent will be Finland, who came back from 3-2 deficit entering the third period to win 5-3 on Thursday. Saku Maenalanen (two goals), Rasmus Kulmala (two assists) and Teuvo Teravinen (two assists) were the multiple-point men for Finland.
So, to review, it’s Russia vs. Sweden and Canada vs. Finland in the semifinals. Should be fun.
