WJC 2015 Day 5 Recap
Tuesday December 30, 2014
The preliminary round of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship wraps up on Wednesday and Denmark and Slovakia did their part on Tuesday to ensure a favourable outcome once the standings are finalized. The Danes improved to four points in the Group B standings while Slovakia collected its second win of the tournament to secure third place in Group A. Here’s a summary of Tuesday’s action.
DENMARK 4, SWITZERLAND 3 – SO
Oliver Bjorkstrand (Portland Winterhawks) was the difference maker for Denmark in Toronto on Tuesday. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect scored and added two shootout markers, including the game winner as the Danes skated to a narrow 4-3 victory over Switzerland to earn their first win of the tournament and keep their medal hopes alive.
First period scoring featured a pair of WHL’ers getting on the scoresheet with Kelowna Rockets forward Kris Schmidli striking for Switzerland at 10:48 before teammate Kevin Fiala made it 2-0 just over a minute later with assists from Denis Malgin and Halifax Mooseheads forward Timo Meier. Bjorkstrand would respond for Denmark at 17:58 with help from Nikolaj Ehlers (Halifax Mooseheads) and Mads Eller (Edmonton Oil Kings).
The Danish powerplay knotted things up early in the second with a pair of OHL’ers grabbing assists on a goal by Anders Kroogsaard. Defenceman Sonny Hertzberg (Oshawa Generals) and forward Mikkel Aagaard (Niagara IceDogs) were credited with helpers at 2:19 of the second.
After Meier scored for Switzerland to give them a brief 3-2 lead, Aagaard would tie the score once again at 5:40 as the two clubs combined for three goals in just over three minutes.
A scoreless third period saw a 3-3 game spill into overtime which solved nothing, setting the stage for the shootout. Unlike CHL shootouts, IIHF rules permit the same player to be used numerous times as Bjorkstrand was by Danish coach Olaf Eller. The Portland Winterhawks shooter buried both of his opportunities while Nikolaj Ehlers also scored to give Denmark a 4-3 decision despite being outshot 45-23.
The win concludes the preliminary round for Denmark, who will await Wednesday’s results to determine their fate moving forward. With Switzerland and the Czech Republic in action, Denmark can only hope the chips fall in their favour for the chance to play a quarterfinal game on Friday. The Swiss look for a much needed win against Sweden on Wednesday afternoon.
SLOVAKIA 5, GERMANY 2
Slovakia jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Tuesday and never looked back, handing Germany its third loss of the tournament to wrap up their preliminary round with a record of 2-2. Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway provided a hat-trick while goaltender Denis Godla made 28 saves against the Germans whose two goals came from Frederik Tiffels in the 5-2 loss.
Prince George Cougars forward David Soltes notched an assist in the Slovakian victory as he and his club will await the fate of Wednesday’s action to see who they’ll be matched up against in the first game of the playoff round that begins Friday.
Germany will battle for their medal hopes on Wednesday when they take on Finland in a game that will decide who moves on to the quarterfinals and who will be demoted to relegation play.
For full coverage of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, including updates and schedules, visit worldjunior2015.com or hockeycanada.ca.