The 2019 World Junior Hockey Championships is moving on to day two starting with Montreal Canadiens prospect Alexander Romanov and Team Russia.
Yesterday let us know who came to play at the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championships. The other games on the schedule were a lot more tame, but Canada sent 14 pucks into Denmark’s net including a hat-trick from Morgan Frost and a four-goal night for Anaheim prospect Maxime Comtois. The Montreal Canadiens didn’t have their prospects headline the games, but each played a role in their team’s performance.
Day One Results
Czech Republic wins 2-1 over Switzerland
United States wins 2-1 over Slovakia
Canada wins 14-0 over Denmark
- Nick Suzuki primary assist on Morgan Frost’s hat-trick goal
- Josh Brook secondary assist on Brett Leason’s third-period goal
Sweden wins 2-1 over Finland
- Jesse Ylönen secondary PP assist on Aarne Talvitie’s goal
The standings have Canada leading Group A with three points while Sweden and USA are tied for first in Group B.
Day two will see Suzuki, Brook, Jacob Olofsson, and Jesse Ylönen in for their respective teams, but also Alexander Romanov who makes his World Junior debut for Team Russia.
Day Two Schedule
Russia vs. Denmark – 1:00 PM PST at Rogers Arena (Vancouver, B.C.)
Sweden vs. Slovakia – 3:30 PM PST at
Canada vs. Switzerland – 5:00 PM PST Rogers Arena (Vancouver, B.C.)
Finland vs. Kazakhstan – 7:30 PM PST Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre (Victoria, B.C.)
Romanov will be starting on the second pairing next to Washington Capitals prospect Alexander Alexeyev. The 18-year-old has a lot to offer on what looks to be a very dynamic Russian blueline. The “smaller ice” debate will surely come up, but Romanov has proven he has the skating and awareness to make plays at a quicker pace to make up for the shorter time window.
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Team Russia had a decent preliminary round last year winning two games and losing only one in overtime. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the United States. They’ll be coming into this year’s tournament with a chip on their shoulder and they have the perfect opponents to get started with given Denmark’s beating on day one.
Later in the day, Olofsson will be on the ice facing Slovakia. Olofsson was a strong force on Sweden’s top line adding a heavy element to their performance even though they weren’t able to score. It won’t be an easy effort seeing how strongly Slovakia played against America and they’ll have to be ready for it.
Canada was on the brighter end of the 14-0 win. It’ll be tough for any team to hold back the offence they have throughout their lineup and hopefully Suzuki and Brook come up big for them.
Finland played hard against Sweden despite losing the game. They might have the best goaltender at the World Juniors in Ukko-Pekka Luukonen. He made some incredible saves but Finland couldn’t solve Samuel Ersson for another goal to tie things up. Ylönen’s speed and puckhandling were one of the main things to stand out from him in the 60-minute effort.
Let’s see if day one is as eventful as day two at the 2019 World Juniors.