World juniors: Americans finish group play in first after win over Finns

MONCTON, N.B. — The U.S. wrapped round-robin play at the world junior hockey championship Saturday with a decisive 6-2 victory over Finland.

Jimmy Snuggerud paced the Americans with a goal and three assists, while Logan Cooley scored and contributed a pair of helpers and Luke Hughes added one of each. 

Rutger McGroarty, Chaz Lucius and Lane Hutson also found the back of the net for the U.S., which finished the preliminary round atop Group B with three wins and one loss. 

Finland’s Lenni Hameenaho had a goal and an assist, and Joakim Kemell rounded out the scoring.

Trey Augustine made 29 saves for the Americans and Vancouver Canucks prospect Aku Koskenvuo stopped 24-of-30 shots for the Finns. 

Finland sits second in Group B with two wins, one overtime loss and one loss. 

Regulation wins at the tournament are worth three points, overtime wins are worth two and overtime losses are worth one.

Slovakia boasts an identical record to Finland, but finished round-robin play in third place due to a lower goal differential.Switzerland sits in fourth place with three overtime wins.

Canada will look to improve its position in Group A Saturday when it takes on undefeated Sweden in the final preliminary game of the tournament. 

Playoffs begin Monday.

SWITZERLAND 4 SLOVAKIA 3 (SO)

Switzerland’s Rodwin Dionicio played hero in Moncton, N.B., earning his team a 4-3 shootout win over Slovakia. 

Dionicio, a defenceman for the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara IceDogs, beat Slovak netminder Adam Gajan in the 10th round of the shootout. 

Switzerland came into the third down 3-1 but rallied with goals from Mischa Ramel and Lorenzo Canonica to force extra time. Liekit Reichele also scored and had an assist for the Swiss in regulation.

Slovakia’s Adam Sykora opened the scoring 4:11 into the game and Servac Petrovsky added a pair of goals 49 seconds apart in the middle frame. Filip Mesar and Libor Nemec each contributed two helpers. 

CZECHIA 8 GERMANY 1

Jaroslav Chemlar scored twice and registered an assist as Czechia waltzed to a win over Germany in Halifax. 

Gabriel Szturc and Martin Rysavy added a goal and two helpers for the Czechs, while teammates David Spacek and Jakub Kos notched one of each. 

Jiri Tichacel and Petr Hauser also found the back of the net as Czechia improved to three regulation wins and one overtime loss in round-robin play. 

Germany’s lone goal came from Veit Oswald 12:35 into the second period. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2022.

The Canadian Press