Canada beats Switzerland to advance to World Junior semis
Published
Canada is moving on at the World Juniors.
The tournament hosts defeated Switzerland 6-3 Wednesday night in Edmonton behind four first-period goals, propelling them into the semifinals.
Tyson Foerster opened the scoring just over one minute into the game but the Swiss evened things up soon after on a marker from Simon Knak. Canada then scored three consecutive goals before Switzerland salvaged some momentum just before time expired as Canada took a 4-2 lead into the break.
Will Cuylle scored for Canada not long into the second but Attilio Biasca scored his second of the game as the Swiss continued to hang around.
Canada's four-goal first period chased Swiss starter Noah Patenaude near the end of the frame with backup Kevin Pasche stopping 15 of the 16 shots he faced in more than two periods of relief. Canada's sixth goal came into an empty net with Pasche on the Swiss bench.
The Canadians got some discouraging news in the second period as forward Ridly Greig was ruled out for the night with an injury. The Ottawa Senators' first-round selection in 2020 appeared to sustain the ailment on a hit from Switzerland's Vincent Despont with just under seven minutes to go in the first period.
Canada went a perfect 4-0-0-0 in the preliminary round, securing multi-goal wins over Latvia, Slovakia, Czechia and Finland.
In other quarter-final action on Wednesday, Finland beat Germany 5-2 and Sweden defeated Latvia 2-1 to advance to the semis. The United States will play Czechia in the final quarter-final matchup on Wednesday.