WJC 2019 Day 5 Recap
RUSSIA 7, SWITZERLAND 4
Switzerland climbed out to a 2-0 lead in the opening half of the first period and led 3-1 early in the second before Russia woke up and skated to a 7-4 victory to remain undefeated at the 2019 World Juniors.
Defencemen Dmitri Samorukov (Guelph Storm) and Alexander Alexeyev (Red Deer Rebels) each had a goal and an assist while Kirill Marchenko, Grigori Denisenko, Kirill Slepets, Pavel Shen and Vitali Kravtsov also scored for Russia.
Marco Lehmann scored twice for the Swiss while Valentin Nussbaumer (Shawinigan Cataractes) had a goal and an assist. Yannick Bruschweiler also found the back of the net as Switzerland was outshot 41-31.
Russia improves to 3-0 headed into a New Year’s Eve showdown with Canada while Switzerland wraps up preliminary play with a 1-0-1-2 record.
SLOVAKIA 11, KAZAKHSTAN 2
Slovakia earned its first win, scoring a commanding 11-2 win over Kazakhstan in Victoria, BC.
A six-goal first period powered Slovakia early as Andrej Kollar went on to record a hat-trick and Calgary Flames prospect Adam Ruzicka (Calgary Flames) had two goals and an assist. Marcel Dlugos also scored twice for the Slovaks while singles came from Adam Liska, Milos Roman (Vancouver Giants), Filip Krivosik and Pavol Regenda.
Artur Gatiyatov scored both goals for Kazakhstan as they were outshot 46-18 and round out the preliminary round with an 0-0-0-4 record.
The win punches Slovakia’s ticket to the quarter-finals where they will face the winner of Monday’s New Year’s Eve clash between undefeated Canada and Russia.
For full coverage of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship visit IIHF.com and HockeyCanada.ca.