St. Louis Blues at World Junior Championship: Quarterfinal Roundup

The Blues' 2023 fourth-round pick scored  the biggest goal of the tournament thus far helping Czechia of an upset with of one of the favorites, Canada, to advance to the semifinals on Thursday.

All in all, Blues prospects produced >> goals and >> assists as five of them advanced into the semifinals on Thursday.

* Czechia 3, Canada 2 -- Stancl helped Czechia shock the world when he scored with 11 seconds remaining to propel the Czech's into a matchup against Sweden.

Stancl's second goal of the game deflected off a Canadian skater and past goalie Mathis Rousseau.

Stancl also scored at 7:51 of the first period to open the scoring and give the Czechs a 1-0 lead.

Stancl, who had three shots and was a plus-2 in 15:14, now is up to three goals and an assist in the tournament.

* Finland 4, Slovakia 3 (OT) -- Dalibor Dvorsky (10th overall, first round, 2023) tried to put the Slovaks on his back with a goal and an assist, while Juraj Pekarcik (third round, 2023) had an assist as well, but Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (third round, 2022) and the Finns had other ideas in a bit of an upset.

Finland's Jere Lassila scored 24 seconds into overtime to send Dvorsky and Pekarcik packing and back to their respective teams; for Dvorsky, it's back to Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League and for Pekarcik, it's back to Dubuque, Iowa of the United States Hockey League.

With Finland leading 2-1, Dvorsky scored to tie the game 2-2 at 7:09 of the second period when Pekarcik won a puck battle below the goal lineand fed Dvorsky in the slot, and the forward lifted in his third of the tournament.

Kaskimaki would put the Finns back on top 3-2 with 1:34 left in the third period from the left dot and delivered a beauty of a clapper off the far post and in for his second of the tournament.

But Dvorsky would be on the ice and get a helper when Slovakia tied the game 3-3 on Filip Mesar's goal with 43.1 seconds remaining.

Kaskimaki, who has the two goals in the tournament, had four shots on goal and was a plus-1 in 18:11.

Dvorsky, who finished the tournament with three goals and three assists, had a team-high five shots and was a plus-2 in 22:02.

Pekarcik, who finished with one goal and two assists in the tournament, had one shot and was even in 19:50.

* Sweden 3, Switzerland 2 (OT) -- The hosts needed a power-play goal by Detroit Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka to advance past upset-minded Switzerland.

Otto Stenberg (25th overall, first round, 2023) got the scoring started with a beauty of a tip to give Sweden a 1-0 lead just 1:34 into the game.

Stenberg, who has four goals -- including a hat trick in a win over Germany -- and three assists in the tournament, had two shots and was a plus-1 in 14:29 on Tuesday.

Defenseman Theo Lindstein, who has one goal and five assists in the tournament, had two shots and was even in 21:12 against the Swiss.

* USA 7, Latvia 2 -- Jimmy Snuggerud, who missed USA's final preliminary game with illness, returned and had a assist with one shot and was a plus-1 in 17:42 as the top seed cruised into the semi's.

Snuggerud (No. 23 overall, first round, 2022) has six points (four goals and two assists) in the tournament, includinga hat trick in an 11-3 win over Switzerland.

So Thursday's semifinal games will pit Snuggerud and USA vs. Kaskimaki and Finland at 12:30 p.m. (CT), while Stenberg, Lindstein and Sweden will try and end the run of upset-minded Czechia and Stancl at 8 a.m.