Another day, some more World Juniors action.
As the preliminary round of the tournament winds down – with four games of the group stage left to be played on Saturday – the penultimate day was an all-European affair with two key games on the schedule.
In Moncton, a morning matchup saw Group B teams Slovakia and Latvia meet first. With three games already behind them, Latvia went into Friday’s contest looking to get its first win of the tournament and potentially avoid being sent to the relegation round.
Had they managed a win in regulation, it would have given Latvia a chance to grab the last quarterfinal spot in Group B – if Slovakia also happened to fall to Switzerland on Saturday.
But that’s not how it played out.
Slovakia extended its undefeated streak against Latvia at the World Juniors, securing a 3-0 shutout win. The Slovaks opened the scoring with a powerplay goal – the first Latvia had allowed all tournament – before netting another two in the final 20 to seal Latvia’s fate.
Although Latvia has undoubtedly played hard all tournament, success has unfortunately eluded the team. They have just two goals and a singular point (from a shootout loss to Switzerland) to show for their preliminary round efforts.
With Latvia now out of contention, Group B’s quarterfinals are booked with Slovakia, Switzerland, Finland and USA all locked in. The final seeding will be determined by Saturday night once each of the four teams has completed its remaining group stage game.
The later matchup – a Group A meeting between Germany and Austria over in Halifax – was another opportunity to finalize some quarterfinal details. While both teams entered the game Friday in search of their first points of the tournament, Austria was also hoping to score its first goal.
They did, twice over.
And although that was a cause for celebration alone, Austria likely wasn’t feeling in the mood after Germany took the game 4-2, moving on to the next round and sending Austria to play for the right to stay at the top level (vs. Latvia).
With Germany getting on the board in the first 20, they scored another two goals in the second before Austria finally answered with one of their own. Heading into the closing period down 4-1, Austria managed to get one more past Germany. With a late powerplay and pulled goaltender, Austria did not go down quietly. It was a hard-fought game by two teams trying to survive.
Germany joins Canada, Sweden and Czechia in the remaining group play Saturday to determine Group A seeds heading into the quarterfinals.
Latvia and Austria will play a three-game relegation series starting Monday.
Here are the top performers of Day 5:
The 19-year-old goaltender deserves his share of props after playing in all four of Latvia’s preliminary round games. As of Friday night, Berzins leads the tournament in not only games played, but also shots on goal (128), saves (117) and minutes played (243:48).
In his second year at the World Juniors, the University of Maine commit surrendered 11 goals across Latvia’s first four contests, recording a .914 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average.
Backing a team struggling to get its offence going, Berzins kept Latvia’s goal deficits moderate – when compared to some of the blowouts we’ve seen over the last five days. It could be argued the Latvians always had a reasonable chance at a comeback in each of their games – thanks in part to their netminder.
Just like Berzins, Quapp is another goaltender who has faced his fair share of shots this tournament. In his team’s win on Friday, Austria had 33 shots on goal. The 19-year-old made 31 saves and was able to withstand the intense pressure his opponents were applying to keep Germany leading throughout 60 minutes.
After just two games played, Quapp has already been peppered with 77 shots on goal. Allowing just three goals to this point, Quapp is tied with Lindbom at second for most saves in the tournament. The Carolina Hurricanes prospect also has the third best save percentage at the tournament (.961), while his 1.51 goals against average is the fifth best.
His strong performance in net, coupled with the efforts of his teammates, helped push the team to qualify for the quarterfinals with one game still to play.
Netting your team’s first goal of the 2023 World Juniors – after collectively going three games without scoring – earns you first star honours.
The 17-year-old is the second youngest player at the tournament behind Canada’s Connor Bedard. Draft eligible this summer, Scherzer scored his goal with 30 seconds left to go in an Austrian powerplay during the second period. A quick release from the circle broke Austria’s scoring drought after 34 straight shots against.
Scherzer also scored Austria's last goal, back in August during the rescheduled 2022 World Juniors. Friday's goal ignited a fire under his teammates, and it's safe to say it was well-received by the crowd at Scotiabank Centre, too.
Honorable mentions: Germany’s Philip Krenning and Roman Ketchter, along with Slovakia’s Filip Mesar were the only three players to notch multi-point efforts on Friday – each recording a goal and assist.
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