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Americans and Swiss Both Advance to Semifinals

Both the US and Switzerland will be moving on in the 2018 IIHF World Championships. The US defeated the Czech Republic in their quarterfinal game 3-2 while the Swiss downed Finland by the same score.

The Americans jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning when Patrick Kane scored 10:36 into the first period from Derek Ryan. The US doubled their lead a little over a minute later at the 12:19 mark when Cam Atkinson scored from Nick Bonino and Johnny Gaudreau. That gave the Americans a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.

But the second frame belonged to the Czechs. They battled back into the game and tied things up. Michal Repik got the rally started when he scored 4:56 into the stanza. He got assists from Radek Faksa and Radko Gudas on that one.

At 10:32, Charlie McAvoy of the US was given a slashing penalty and the Czechs were on the power play. It only took 23 seconds for Martin Necas to convert from McAvoy’s Boston teammate David Pastrnak and Filip Hronek. The game was now tied up and to make matters worse for the US, Connor Murphy was assessed a slashing penalty at 18:30, which would give the Czechs 30 seconds of power play time on fresh ice in the third.

But the US killed that one off and, in fact, it was Kane who was the hero. He scored at even strength from Ryan at the 6:58 mark of the third to give the US a 3-2 lead.

The Czechs would pull goalie Pavel Francouz to try to get the equalizer, but it was not to be. The Americans held on and advanced in the tournament.

Keith Kinkaid made 24 saves on 26 Czech shots while Francouz made 28 saves on 31 American shots.

Will Butcher had a shot on goal and was a plus-1 in 21:01 of ice time over 30 shifts. Blake Coleman had two shots on goal and was a plus-1 plus/minus over 11:14 of time on ice. He spread that out over 15 shifts. Brian Gibbons did not dress for the game.

The US will now play Sweden, who defeated Latvia 3-2 in their quarterfinal, in the semifinals on May 19 at Royal Arena in Copenhagen.

Meanwhile in the later game at Herning, Switzerland was making history. They upset the Finns, 3-2 to make their way to the semifinals as well.

The Swiss actually fell behind early in this one. Markus Nutivaara scored for the Finns at the 7:01 mark of the first period from Miika Koivisto and Mikko Rantanen. It was 1-0 Finland going into the second frame.

But the Swiss would come roaring back in the second. Enzo Corvi tied things at one from Kevin Fiala and Nino Niederreiter at the 9:13 mark. At 12:32, Joel Vermin gave Switzerland the 2-1 lead when he scored from Timo Meier.

Thirty-six seconds after the Vermin goal, Gregory Hofmann gave the Swiss their insurance goal when he scored from Simon Moser and Michael Fora. It was now 3-1 Switzerland going into the third.

The Finns were allowed back into things when, at the 7:22 mark of the third, Fora took a four minute double minor for high sticking. Just 58 seconds into the ensuing power play, Rantanen scored from Veli-Matti Savinainen and Sebasitan Aho to cut the Swiss lead to one.

Finland would pull goaltender Harri Sateri for the extra attacker with about 1:30 left in the game, but to no avail. Switzerland held on and came away with the 3-2 upset victory.

Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni made 32 saves on 34 Finnish shots while Sateri made 24 saves on 27 Swiss shots.

Mirco Mueller had two shots on goal and was a plus-1 in 22:28 of ice time spread over 38 shifts.

Next up for Switzerland, they play the Canadians in the semifinal. That game also takes place at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and results from Canada beating the Russians 5-4 in overtime in their quarterfinal. That game also takes place on May 19.

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Swiss Defeat France While US Dealt First Loss at Worlds

Team Switzerland got back on track with a 5-1 win over France in the last day of preliminaries at the 2018 IIHF World Championships. At the same time, it took all tournament, but the US was dealt a blow going into the medal rounds by losing 6-2 to Finland, their first defeat of the tournament so far.

We will begin with the high note at Royal Arena in Copenhagen. Switzerland got the goal scoring kicked off 12:21 into the first period when Gregory Hofmann scored from Gaetan Haas and Mirco Mueller to make it 1-0.

At 15:09, the Swiss would double their lead when Enzo Corvi scored to make it 2-0. He got assists from Nino Niederreiter and Timo Meier. The end of the period would kind of set the tone for the game as the French got into some penalty trouble.

First, with four seconds remaining in the period, Hugo Gallet was called for slashing. Then, 5:36 into the second, Alexandre Texier and Kevin Hecquefeuille both received hooking minors at the same time to put the Swiss up on a 5-on-3 man advantage. But the penalties did not hurt the French until the 15:22 mark when Valentin Claireaux was called for tripping. On the power play, Ramon Untersander converted to make it 3-0 Switzerland. Corvi and Roman Josi had the assists.

In the third period, Kevin Fiala scored just 2:21 in to make it 4-0 Switzerland and the rout seemed to be on. But France would get one right back when Guillaume Leclerc scored at 3:10 from Florian Chakiachvili and Jordann Perret to cut the Swiss lead to 4-1.

The Swiss would then get into some penalty trouble of their own when, at 9:39, Noah Rod took an elowing minor. That was killed off and at 12:09, Corvi went off for goalie interference. That would prove the final dagger for the French though, as Simon Moser scored shorthanded at 13:46 from Joel Vermin and Mueller.

That made it 5-1 and, though the French would get another shot on the power play when Mueller went off for high sticking with about a minute left in the game, that was it. Five to one was your final and the Swiss end the prelims on a winning note.

Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni made 19 saves on 20 shots while French goalie Florian Hardy stopped 29 of 34 Swiss shots on goal. Of note was that dressing as the backup for the Swiss in this game was Devils prospect Gilles Senn. It was his first time dressing in the tournament.

As for a Devil who did play, Mirco Mueller had the two assists for two points and was a plus-4 in 18:16 of total ice time, over 33 shifts.

Since the top two teams in Group A (Russia and Sweden) are playing each other later today, it should not have much bearing on the Swiss. They should get into the medal rounds with 12 points (three regulation wins, one overtime win, one overtime loss and two regulation losses and a 25-19 goal differential). The Swiss will likely play Finland in the first part of the medal rounds. Finland, as we shall see, won Group B with a win over the Americans.

Meanwhile, over in Herning, the Americans had a crucial game with the Finns to determine who would win Group B. It would come down to number of regulation wins in this tightly contested group.

The Finns got off to a quick start courtesy of Sebastian Aho. He struck first at 10:17 into the first period, beating Keith Kinkaid off an assist from Veli-Matti Savinainen. He would then connect almost seven minutes later when he scored from Markus Nutivaara at 17:15. By the end of the first period, it was 2-0 Finland.

The second period was cleanly played with no penalties, but the Finns did add a goal to their lead to make it 3-0 when Mikko Rantanen scored from Nutivaara and Mikael Granlund. This would set up a chaotic third frame.

It began 5:15 in when the US was given a too many men on the ice bench minor. Marko Anttila converted on that power play from Sakari Manninen to make it 4-0 Finland. Things were not looking good for the Americans.

At the ten minute mark, though, Miika Koivisto went off for tripping and the US was on the power play. 1:18 later, they pulled Kinkaid for the 6-on-4 man advantage and it paid off when Patrick Kane scored to make it 4-1. Charlie McAvoy had the lone assist.

The Americans dug their hole a little bit deeper, however, when Dylan Larkin was called for tripping at 12:06 and Kasperi Kapanen scored on the power play to make it 5-1. Eeli Tolvanen and Savinainen had the assists.

The US would get one right back, though, less than a minute later when Derek Ryan scored from Kane and Chris Kreider. That made it 5-2 and the Americans pulled Kinkaid again at the 15:16 mark of the third.

Unfortunately, Aho struck once more, netting an empty net goal and completing the hat trick at 16:45. He got and assist from Tommi Kivisto. That madee it 6-2 and that was your final.

The Americans took consecutive penalties with time running out, Blake Coleman was called for goalie interference at 17:13 and at 19:11, Neal Pionk went off for high sticking, killing off the US chance for a comeback.

Keith Kinkaid made 30 stops on 36 Finnish shots while Harri Sateri made 35 saves on 37 shots against.

Will Butcher had two shots on goal and was a minus-2 over 18:39 of time on ice spread over 23 shifts. Blake Coleman had the goalie interference minor, two shots on goal and was an even plus/minus over 9:25 of ice time with 13 shifts. Brian Gibbons had two shots on goal and was an even rating in 8:28 of TOI over 13 shifts.

The Americans will finish in second place in Group B with 16 points (the same as Finland) with four regulation wins, two overtime wins, no overtime losses and a regulation loss. The Finns win the group due to having one more regulation win than the US, despite both teams tying in the points ledger.

With the first part of the medal rounds being crossover between groups, the US will likely play the Czech Republic in their next game, who finished third in Group A.

The quarterfinals for both the Swiss and the Americans get underway on May 17.

One final order of business: congratulations to Devils prospect and Swift Current Bronco Colby Sissons. The Broncos won the Western Hockey League and will now be playing for the Memorial Cup. Their first game is against the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan on May 19 at the Brandt Centre in Regina. We will have coverage of the Memorial Cup and the two teams featuring Devils prospects (the Hamilton Bulldogs and Marian Studenic are the other) right here for you.