In the tournament opener, the Canadians faced Germany, whom they lost in the semifinals four years ago in Pyeongchang, as well as in a group at the last World Championships in Riga, which ended then ended with their triumph. However, only the number 1 pick from the last NHL draft, Owen Power, played on the World Cup team today. This time, the Canadians had no major problems defeating Toni Söderholm’s team. From the 11th minute, they led 3-0 and won the entire match 5-1.
Ben Street, who normally plays for Germany’s Red Bull Munich, scored a goal and provided an assist, and two defenders, Alex Grant and Maxim Noreau, as well as Daniel Winnik and Jordan Weal, also scored goals. Third forward Eric O’Dell provided two assists, but was also involved in the first goal, for which he scored no points. The Dynamo Moscow player threw Marco Nowak onto the ice with a powerful body attack behind the goal, which allowed the Canadians to grab the puck, and after a while Grant scored into the net. Canadian goalie Eddie Pasquale stopped 23 German shots.
Jeremy Colliton was still Canada’s head coach, but there will be a change in that role ahead of Saturday’s game against the United States. Less than an hour before today’s game, the Canadian association unexpectedly announced that coach Claude Julien, who was expected to be ruled out of the Olympics due to broken ribs suffered during pre-season training camp, -tournament in Switzerland, returned to the team. Julien was already sitting in the stands today. Colliton will be his assistant later in the tournament. This is another change in the coaching position of the Maple Leafs team, as initially it was supposed to be led by Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper in Beijing, but when he It turned out that the NHL would not have a break for the Olympics, Julien was nominated.
The Germans, for whom Tobias Rieder scored an honorary goal, lost today, but they can console themselves with the fact that 4 years ago in South Korea they also began their path to a silver medal sensational with a defeat, or even two. Then, in the first matches, they lost to Finland 2: 5 and Sweden 0: 1. In Beijing, they will face China in the second match on Saturday.
Canada – Germany 5:1 (3:0, 1:1, 1:0)
1:0 Grant – Johnson – Street 04:43
2:0 Rue – O’Dell – Johnson 09:47
3:0 Winnik – Cracknall – Desharnais 10:19
3:1 Rieder – Noebels – Pföderl 30:45
4:1 Noreau – O’Dell – Staal 32:58 (advantage)
5:1 Weal – Tambellini – Knight 51:22
Shots: 27-24.
Penalty minutes: 8-4.
The viewers: 685.
Today, in the second match of the same Group A, the Americans defeated the Chinese team 8-0. Before the matches, the Chinese naturalized almost the entire team, consisting only of players from the KHL Kunlun Red Star Beijing. All this to avoid embarrassing defeats at the ‘home’ Olympics, but so far it hasn’t helped much. The youngest Olympic team in 28 years, the United States, led only 1-0 for a long time, but once it gained momentum, it gave the hosts no chance. Harvard University player Sean Farrell played a great game, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists. His strike partner Ben Meyers scored once and assisted twice, while Matty Beniers, Brendan Brisson, Noah Cates and Brian O’Neill also scored goals. Drew Commesso, 19, made 29 saves and is the youngest American goalkeeper to compete in the Olympics. The Chinese goalkeeper was a naturalized American, Jeremy Smith, who, like other players, was given a Chinese surname by the hosts and plays under the name Shimisi Jieruimi. The former Colorado Avalanche goalie allowed eight of 55 shots today.
China – USA 0:8 (0:1, 0:3, 0:4)
0:1 Brisson – Knies 10:38 (advantage)
0:2 Cates – Farrell – Meyers 25:32
0:3 O’Neill – Miele – Faber 31:13
0:4 Farrell – Abruzzo 38:07
0:5 Farrell – Kampfer – Meyers 41:06
0:6 Meyers – Farrell 50:19
0:7 Beniers – Abruzzo – Cooper 52:00
0:8 Farrell – Abdelkader – Helleson 58:27 (advantage)
Shots: 29-55.
Penalty minutes: 10-10.
The viewers: 947.
Today, in group C, the Finns began their participation in the Olympic tournament with a 6-2 victory over Slovakia, who qualified for the Olympics by winning the qualifying tournament with the participation of the team Polish national. The hero of the match was Sakari Manninen, who took four shots on goal and scored three times. A player from Salawat Jułajewa Ufa scored the first hat trick of the tournament. Miro Aaltonen scored two goals and assisted while Harri Pesonen was on the scoresheet. Both Slovakia goals were scored by Slovak super talent Juraj Slafkovský, who usually plays for Finnish team TPS Turku. Picked among the top ten in this year’s NHL draft, the 17-year-old became the youngest scorer in the Winter Olympics hockey tournament since 1984. The Slovaks have shot on goal more often than their favorite rivals ( 33-30), but Finnish goalkeeper Harri Säteri saved 31 shots. Both teams will play their next matches tomorrow. The Finns will face Latvia and the Slovaks will face Sweden.
Finland – Slovakia 6:2 (3:1, 1:1, 2:0)
0:1 Slavkovský – Romain 05:33
1:1 Manninen – Hartikainen – Pokka 10:17
2:1 Pesonen – Aaltonen – Filppula 14:22 (advantage)
3:1 Aaltonen – Nättinen 18:20
4:1 Manninen – Granlund – Lehtonen 29:28
4:2 Slafkovský – Čerešňák – Regenda 31:49
5:2 Manninen – Hartikainen 40:16
6:2 Aaltonen – Ojamäki – Vatanen 54:57 (advantage)
Shots: 30-33.
Penalty minutes: 10-6.
The viewers: 929.
In Thursday’s first match in the same group, the Swedes won against Latvia 3-2. However, they survived a tense finish, as even though they led 3-0, they allowed their rivals to make up for the two lost goals. But they ultimately survived the chase. The winner of the Three Crowns was decided by Lucas Wallmark, who scored the first and third goals. Captain Anton Lander also scored. Wallmark, who normally plays for CSKA Moscow in the KHL, scored the winning goal on the power play, but then found himself in the penalty box for both Latvian goals. The first time was his own fault, and the second time he was serving a team penalty for having too many players on the ice. Sweden faced Latvia for the third time at the Winter Olympics and won for the third time. In two previous cases – in Turin and Sochi – she subsequently qualified for the final.
Sweden – Latvia 3:2 (1:0, 2:1, 0:1)
1:0 Wallmark – Holmberg – Olofsson 09:42
2h0 Lander – Bromé – Klingberg 20h30
3:0 Wallmark – Tömmernes – Pudas 33:39 (advantage)
3:1 Krastenbergs – Balinskis – Dārziņš 36:07 (advantage)
3:2 Jeļisejevs – Dārziņš – Balinskis 46:48 (advantage)
Shots: 26-17.
Penalty minutes: 8-10.
The viewers: 873.
Friday:
Denmark – Russian Olympic Committee Czech Republic – Switzerland Sweden – Slovakia Latvia – Finland.
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