Yesterday, Swedish forward Andre Burakovsky said Sweden's National Junior Team was better than Canada's on paper. Today, he scored the game's first goal to help his team beat Canada in a pre-tournament matchup on their way to a 3-0 win earning Player of the Game honors in the process.
Canada has finalized their roster by cutting Felix Girard, but with Matt Dumba facing a possible suspension by the IIHF for kneeing, things could get interesting on the back end. Griffin Rinehart still has to serve a three game suspension from last year's tournament and should Dumba be suspended, Canada might have to start the tournament with only five defenseman or make a change to the roster.
Earlier, USA defeated Finland 3-2 with goals by Danny O'Regan, Ryan Hartman and Brady Skjei and goaltender Jon Gillies earning Player of the Game honors. USA named Riley Barber captain with Andrew Copp and Matt Grzelcyk as alternates and sent Brett Pesce and Henrik Samuelsson home. Adam Erne and Tyler Motte are dealing with the flu and the powers that be will hold off on making thier final roster cut until closer to the tournament to see if they can get healthy in time before making any final decisions. They don't have to submit a roster until the 25th and as we saw last year, they don't have to fill the entire roster at that time.
In other news, Sweden is showing more and more that they're the team to beat. They return nearly half the roster that won silver last year in Ufa, boast an incredibly talented lineup and are playing on home ice. They're lethal, especially with the man advantage. Their National Junior Team spends a lot of time training together in the summer and starts playing and practicing together in early December. Their chemistry both on and off the ice is evident. Fortunately for USA and Canada, the soonest they will see the Swedes again is in the semifinals.
I'll keep you posted on any roster announcements.
Julie
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