World Juniors: Finland 4, USA 1

The US tried to push around Finland, just as they'd pushed around Denmark. It didn't work. Not only did the Finns stand firm, they actually won the physical battles at the half wall. Finland didn't dominate the game as the score might suggest. But they were the better forechecking team. Their goaltending was also superior. Sami Aittokallio made some brilliant saves for Finland, and American John Gibson let a few pucks squeeze through him. Even if he hadn't, the US wasn't going to win.

The American team essentially must win against the Czech Republic Friday afternoon if they want to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Czechs just got beaten 5-0 by the Canadians, but they were playing the second of back-to-back games and looked extremely tired. They'll bring their best game when they play the USA.

Russia beat Slovakia 3-1 and have won both their games, just like Canada. In a bit of a surprise, Sweden needed a shootout to beat Switzerland 4-3.

Photo Credit:
The Canadian Press

It's World Juniors Time!

The best young hockey players (under 20) in the world have converged in Alberta for the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. Canada is the favorite to win, not only as the host country, not only as the 15 time winner, but as the most talented team. However, they haven't won since 2009.

There are two groups of 5 teams in the round-robin stage. The top 3 teams from each group advance to the elimination stage, with the group winners receiving byes to the semifinals. Here are the groups:

Group A:
Sweden
Russia
Slovakia
Switzerland
Latvia

Group B:
USA
Canada
Finland
Denmark
Czech Republic

The US has already thrashed Denmark 11-3, while Canada dominated Finland 8-1. Also, Sweden beat Latvia 9-4, and Russia took care of Switzerland 3-0. So no surprises so far.

The US will be playing Canada on New Year's Eve at 8pm. They'll play Finland on the 28th, and the Czech Republic on the 30th.

Other things to look for include some young Bruins and a few local college kids. Russia's Alexander Khokhlachev was drafted 40th overall by the Bruins in this year's draft. 9th overall pick Dougie Hamilton is playing for Canada and scored a goal last night.

The US team has a few New England college kids. BU's Adam Clendening, BC's Bill Arnold scored last night, Vermont's Connor Brickley, and Weymouth's own Charlie Coyle, who used to play for BU until recently, who scored a hat-trick last night.

The WJHC is a fun tournament to watch. The hockey's fast, it's intense, the Canadian crowd will be into it, and the shaky goaltending and inexperienced defense leads to some wide open play and lots of scoring.

The finals will be played on January 5th.