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The IIHF World Championship tournament has concluded its round-robin play, and eight teams have advanced to the quarter-finals.
All four of the Vancouver Canucks representatives have advanced, with two of them set to faceoff against one another.
Team Sweden and Marcus Pettersson will take on Team Czechia and Filip Hronek.
Pettersson and the Swedes finished second in Group A after suffering their first loss on the final day of the round-robin, losing 5-3 to Team Canada. Canada needed a regulation win to surpass Sweden for the top spot in the Group.
The Swedish defenceman had zero goals and three assists, finishing with a plus-4 rating through seven games of the tournament.
Hronek and the Czechs finished third in Group B after dropping their final game of the round-robin, losing 5-2 to Team USA. With that loss, the Americans tied the Czechs in points and leapfrogged them in the standings due to head-to-head record.
The Czech defenceman had zero goals and six assists, finishing with a plus-9 rating through seven games of the tournament.
These two teams had very successful, yet different, preliminary rounds.
The Swedes shined defensively, allowing the second-fewest goals against (eight), the best penalty kill (12/12 – 100%), and the third-highest save percentage (.932%). Offensively, the Swedes were sixth in goals (28) and had the eighth-best power play (5/23 – 21.74%).
The Czechs were the opposite of the Swedes, as their strength was offence. They finished first in goals (35) with the fifth-best power play (5-20 – 25%). Defensively, the Czechs allowed the fifth-fewest goals against (14), finishing with the 11th-ranked penalty kill (4/16 – 75%) and the fifth-best save percentage (.924%).
It will be interesting to see what prevails in this matchup. Will Sweden’s defence be able to stop the high-flying Czechia offence?
But Hronek and Pettersson aren’t the only Canucks to have advance as Conor Garland, Drew O’Connor and the Americans will take on Team Finland in the quarterfinals.
A third-period comeback against Hronek and the Czechs, the Americans secured the second seed in Group B. Garland was held pointless in this match, but O’Connor added an assist on the empty-net goal.
Garland finished the tournament with two goals and five assists, with a plus-6 rating in seven games. O’Connor had one goal and three assists with a plus-4 rating in all seven games.
The Americans stack up nicely against the Finns.
USA’s offence came up big for them. They finished the tournament fifth in goals (34) and second in power play percentage (7/23 – 30.43%). Their defence was middle of the pack, allowing the fifth-fewest goals against (14), the 10th-ranked penalty kill (13/17 – 76.47) and the seventh-best save percentage (.906%).
Finland was the opposite. They finished fourth in goals against (10), first in save percentage (.949%), but struggled on the penalty kill, ranking 13th across the 16 teams in the tournament (9/13 – 69.2%). Their offence dried out, finishing eighth in goals (22) and second-last in power play percentage (1/18 – 5.6%).
Here is the entire quarterfinal schedule:
Group A
(1A) Canada vs. (4B) Denmark – 11:20 am PST
(2A) Sweden vs. (3B) Czechia – 11:20 am PST
Group B
(1B) Switzerland vs. (4A) Austria – 7:20 am PST
(2B) USA vs. (3A) Finland – 7:20 am PST
The quarterfinals kick off on Thursday, May 22. You can stream the games on TSN.
More must-reads:
- Carter Hart, others found not guilty in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
- Report: Dolphins sign promising CB who has had off-field issues
- The 'NBA Summer League MVPs' quiz
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Why as many as 100 NFL players are facing fines and potential suspension
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