World Juniors Roundup: Sandin Pellikka nets hat trick as Sweden routs Slovakia

OTTAWA -- Defenceman Axel Sandin Pellikka scored a natural hat trick as Sweden kicked off the world junior championship with a 5-2 rout of Slovakia on Thursday.

Sandin Pellikka, a Detroit Red Wings prospect playing in his third world juniors, added an assist for Sweden, which is looking for its first title since 2012.

Rasmus Bergqvist and Linus Eriksson had the other goals for Sweden.

Dalibor Dvorsky had a goal just under 12 minutes into the game to open the scoring for Slovakia, which was then held without a goal until Daniel Jencko scored on a power play with 85 seconds left in regulation.

Sweden plays Kazakhstan and Slovakia meets Switzerland on Friday.

CZECHIA 5, SWITZERLAND 1

Hoping to improve on last year's bronze medal, Czechia jumped out to a promising start with a 5-1 win over Switzerland.

Miroslav Holinka, Eduard Sale, Ondrej Kos, Jakub Stancl and Petr Sikora scored for the winners, who received a two-assist effort from Tomas Galvas.

Leo Braillard scored a third-period goal for Switzerland, which was outshot 35-26.

Czechia led 1-0 after the first period and took a 3-0 lead into the third.

Czechia has the day off Friday then faces Kazakhstan on Saturday. Switzerland plays Slovakia on Friday.

U.S. 10, GERMANY 4

Defenceman Cole Hutson had five assists as United States opened defence of its gold medal with a resounding win over Germany.

James Hagens had two goals and two assists, while Gabe Perreault and Brodie Ziemer also scored twice for the Americans, who are considered among the favourites in Ottawa.

Trevor Connelly, Brandon Svoboda, Carey Terrance and Cole Eiserman also scored for the Americans.

Julius Sumpf, David Lewandowski, Lenny Boos and Timo Ruckdaschel scored for Germany.

Trey Augustine made 18 saves for the U.S., while a busy Nico Pertuch stopped 46 shots.

Germany plays Finland on Friday, while the U.S. has a day off before facing Latvia on Saturday