Canada, Sweden set for New Year's Eve clash at World Juniors
Published
Canada wraps up round robin play at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Saturday night with a New Year's Eve clash against Sweden.
You can watch the action LIVE from Scotiabank Arena in Halifax Saturday at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT on TSN 1/4/5 and stream on TSN.ca or the TSN App.
Team Canada has had an up-and-down tournament so far in Halifax.
They dropped their opener to Czechia, 5-2, on Boxing Day before blowing out Germany and Austria in their next two games, outscoring the two nations by a combined score of 22-2.
Another positive for Canada has been forward Connor Bedard, who has proven why he should be selected first overall in the upcoming in NHL Draft this summer.
You can watch every game of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship LIVE on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
New Year's Eve at the World Juniors
11am ET/8am PT - Switzerland vs. Slovakia (TSN 1/4/5, TSN.ca, TSN App)
1:30pm ET/10:30am PT - Czechia vs. Germany (TSN 1/4/5, TSN.ca, TSN App)
4pm ET/1pm PT - United States vs. Finland (TSN 1/4, TSN.ca, TSN App)
6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT - Canada vs. Sweden (TSN 1/4/5, TSN.ca, TSN App)
The 17-year-old native of North Vancouver, B.C. scored two goals in Thursday's win over the Austrians to tie Jordan Eberle's all-time Canadian World Junior mark of 14 goals and is now just four points back of Eric Lindros' all-time points record of 27. He also netted a hat trick and four assists in a blowout win over Germany on Wednesday, matching the Canadian single-game points record also held by Dave Andreychuk (1983), Brenden Morrow (1999), Mike Cammalleri (2002) and Gabriel Bourque (2010).
"His ability to score goals is (among) the best I've ever seen," said teammate Shane Wright. "He's always creative with the way he shoots the puck and where he can release it. Really impressive."
The Regina Pats centre leads the tournament in scoring with six goals and eight assists, seven more points than the second-best offensive producer in teammate Logan Stankoven.
"I'm another player on the team," Bedard said. "We've got so many guys that are special players. I'm just here as one of the guys."
Canada will likely need more than just Bedard to beat the Swedes on Saturday night. Sweden has won all three of their games at the World Juniors, including a close 1-0 win over Germany and a 3-2 overtime victory over Czechia.
Sweden is holding down the top spot in Group A with eight points, followed by Czechia with seven and Canada with six. Germany and Austria are both pointless heading into Friday's action. Finland is leading Group B with seven points, followed by United States (six), Switzerland (four), Slovakia (three) and Latvia (one). The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinal round.
Defenceman Ludvig Jansson, a fourth-round pick by the Florida Panthers in 2022, is leading the way for Sweden with five points while goalie Carl Lindbolm has allowed just two goals against on 76 shots.
The Canadians have used both of their goalies in Halifax. Ben Gaudreau got the start on Boxing Day against Czechia before getting pulled in favour of Thomas Milic. Milic got the start against Germany as Gaudreau was back between the pipes on Thursday and posted a shutout against Austria.
Forward Adam Fantilli says the recent offensive outbursts can only give Canada confidence heading into matchup with Sweden.
"We've been playing the right way, all three zones, so I think everyone is going to have that type of confidence going against Sweden," he told TSN.
Canada are the defending champions at the World Juniors, edging Finland this summer in overtime of the gold-medal game after the 2022 tournament was cancelled last Christmas due to COVID-19. Sweden has a total of 20 medals at the World Juniors, including two gold, last winning in 2012.