(Ottawa) David Edstrom’s second-period goal was decisive as Sweden beat Latvia 3-2 on Thursday, reaching the semi-finals of the world junior hockey championship.
Posted at 4:50 p.m.
Updated at 9:13 p.m.
Zeb Forsfjall and Anton Wahlberg also scored for Sweden, which led 3-0 midway through the middle period.
Eriks Mateiko, however, responded with a double in 8:37, before the second intermission.
Melker Thelin made 11 saves for the Swedish side, while Linards Feldbergs was bombarded with 50 shots.
PHOTO SPENCER COLBY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Melker Thelin (35)
Sweden, which finished first in Group B with a 4-0 record, is trying to win the tournament for the first time since 2012.
Finland 5 – Slovakia 3
The Finns also reached the next stage, winning 5-3 over the Slovaks.
Jesse Nurmi led by example with two goals and an assist.
PHOTO SPENCER COLBY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jesse Nurmi (24), Mitja Jokinen (2) and Daniel Nieminen (7)
Jesse Kiiskinen added a goal and an assist.
Kasper Halttunen and Rasmus Kumpulainen completed the score for Finland, who scored two passes each from Benjamin Rautiainen and Heikki Ruohonen.
Dalibor Dvorsky, Juraj Pekarcik and Robert Fedor scored the Slovaks’ goals.
Petteri Rimpinen blocked 33 shots in a winning cause.
United States 7 – Switzerland 2
James Hagens and Ryan Leonard scored doubles as the defending champions USA dominated Switzerland 7-2.
Both play with Boston College as does Brandon Svoboda, who also hit the target.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Brandon Svoboda (8), Simon Meier (27) and Max Plante (22)
“We’re fast and when we put that into practice, we’re tough to beat,” Svoboda said.
“We watch video every day and if we continue to improve little things, we will continue to have success. »
Danny Nelson and Zeev Buium also scored for the United States, while Gabe Perreault had three assists.
The response came from Nils Rhyn and Andro Kaderli.
The Americans will have as their next rivals the Czechs or Canada, who face each other Thursday evening.
Germany 4 – Kazakhstan 3
In a relegation match, Germany erased a 3-1 deficit to beat Kazakhstan 4-3.
With this victory, Germany ensured its participation in the next edition of the World Juniors. The Kazakhs were relegated to Group A of Division 1.
Julius Sumpf scored the decisive goal. Maxim Schafer scored twice, and Edwin Tropmann had a goal and an assist.
Assanali Ruslanuly, Nikita Sitnikov and Artur Gross were reproduced for Kazakhstan.
