It was semi final day at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup with Czechia taking on Sweden and Canada going head-to-head with the United States. Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and Finland also had one last chance to impress the crowd with there placements games to determine 5th through to 8th.
The score lines were high but a much more competitive day compared to the previous three, which was to be expected.
Game 13: Germany 2 Slovakia 5
Germany and Slovakia kicked off the day with the first of two placement games. The Germans had a strong first period with 11 shots but weren’t able to beat Michal Pradel. Instead, it was Slovakia that started the scoring and never looked back. Andreas Straka scored early in the second with began a run of four unanswered for the Slovaks. There was an attempted comeback in the third period but an empty net goal sealed a 5-2 win for Slovakia.
Game 14: Switzerland 2 Finland 5
The two weakest teams in the tournament met in the lone game in the Downtown Community Arena. They exchanged goals a couple of times in the opening two periods; however, Finland took a stranglehold on the game in the third. Max Westergard made it 3-2 midway through the period then a pair from Atte Joki put an end to Switzerland’s chances of winning a game at this tournament.
Game 15: Sweden 1 Czechia 5
Sweden opened the scoring but that discourage Czechia. The Czech’s scored five unanswered goals to advance to the final of the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup. Adam Benák continued his dominance on the tournament with another two point performance, taking his tally to 10. When it was only a two goal game, Eddie Genborg did score but soon had his goal ruled out for kicking the puck.
Game 16: United States 1 Canada 4
It was a tight competitive game between the United States and Canada but the hosts skill helped them overcome there continental rivals. Cameron Schmidt made it 1-0 on the power play which was followed up by Alex Huang early in the second period. Sam Spehar responded but a game winning goal from Cole Reschny and an empty net goal from Luca Romano secured Canada’s spot in the gold medal game.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING…
- Despite losing against Slovakia, Germany’s 6th place finish is there best ever placement at the tournament.
- Saturday final matchup is the 9th time Canada and Czechia have played one another for gold. The most recent was last year when Canada came away victorious with a 3-2 overtime win. Malcolm Spence was the overtime hero on that occasion.
- Braeden Cootes will return to Canada’s lineup after serving his two game suspension for spearing.
- Viktor Klingsell scored his 11th point of the tournament versus Czechia, which is now more than Berkly Catton last season.
UP NEXT…
Tomorrow, the United States and Sweden compete for bronze at 1:30 p.m at Rogers Place. The main event between Canada and Czechia goes down at 7:30 p.m.
