WJC Today - 12/29/11

TODAY

Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan Beaulieu, and the rest of Team Canada are back in action tonight when they take on Denamrk at 9pm. TSN’s coverage begins at 8:30pm.

Also, tonight at 11pm, Russia takes on Latvia.

CZECH REPUBLIC - CANADA

Team Canada cruised to a 5-0 win over the Czech Republic last night in Edmonton, improving to 2-0 at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

The line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Mark Stone and Ryan Strome had another strong night. Huberdeau setup Stone in the first period to open the scoring for Canada. Huberdeau finished the night with an assist, went 1/2 on faceoffs, had one shot on goal and was a +1.

Winnipeg Jets prospect Mark Scheifele had a pair of goals while Stone, Brett Connolly, and Ryan Strome added singles. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood, making his first start of the tournament, picked up the shutout win.

Nathan Beaulieu had one shot on net in the win and collected 12 penalty minutes. Late in the third period, Beaulieu was given a checking to the head penalty which is accompanied with a 10-minute misconduct.

Here are the highlights.

TSN’s post-gamer.

USA – FINLAND

Yesterday afternoon, Team Finland stunned Team USA by pulling off a 4-1 win. It was the first upset of the tournament. The loss dropped the US to 1-1.

Despite the loss, Charlie Coyle had another good game for the Americans. He assisted on their lone goal, helping setup Brandon Saad in the third period. Coyle finished the game with an assist, two penalty minutes, went 9/15 on faceoffs, and had six shots on goal.

Saad’s marker made it a 1-1 game at the time but Finland went in to beat American goaltender John Gibson three times in the third period.

Here are the highlights.

The USA’s next game is tomorrow against the Czech Republic.

RUSSIA – SLOVAKIA

In yesterday’s late game, Tomas Jurco and Slovakia fell 3-1 to the Russians.

Despite the loss, Jurco had a good night and was named Slovakia’s player of the game. He had a team high seven shots on goal and had a solid physical presence. TSN analyst Craig Button had several positive things to say about the skilled Sea Dog forward throughout the telecast.

Here are the highlights.

Slovakia’s next game is tomorrow against Sweden. The Swedes needed a shootout to beat the Swiss 4-3 yesterday.

LINKS

Here are today’s readings:

• The Hockey Writers - Stone, Strome and Huberdeau:Disecting Canada’s Top Line
• Sportsnet.ca – Forgive the Heresy. Good read from Stephen Brunt on Canada’s obsession with the world juniors.
• Buzzing The Net – Discipline, power play concerns for Canada. "We got two great units of top guys who all play big roles on their power plays with their home clubs," said Beaulieu. "It's tough at first. The chemistry is building and we feel like we're getting a lot better. Even though we didn't score until the end, we were feeling better."