TUESDAY WORLD JUNIORS ROUND-UP
EDMONTON – After a quiet start to his run at the world junior men’s hockey championship, Quinton Byfield’s six-point performance paced Canada to a 10-0 blanking of Switzerland on Tuesday.
The No. 2 pick in October’s NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings scored twice and assisted on four goals.
Byfield is one of six players returning from the Canadian team that claimed world junior gold in Ostrava, Czech Republic in January.
Byfield didn’t score in Ostrava, so he was pleased to end his drought.
“Definitely a big relief,” Byfield said. “Not getting a goal last year definitely hurt a little bit, but I wouldn’t trade that for anything. We still came out with a gold medal.
“It’s nice to get a goal and contribute as much as I can, so definitely happy with that.”
Byfield’s linemate and Calgary Flames prospect Jakob Pelletier scored twice and had an assist for Canada (3-0) on Tuesday.
Connor McMichael, Dylan Cozens, Philip Tomasino, Ryan Suzuki, Cole Perfetti and Kaiden Guhle also scored for the defending champions.
Canadian goaltender Devon Levi posted a 15-save shutout.
Swiss goalie Noah Patenaude of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs stopped 42 shots in the loss, his first start of the tournament.
Canada caps the preliminary round Thursday against Finland (2-0) in what is expected to be the toughest test yet for the host team.
USA 7 CZECH REPUBLIC 0
Trevor Zegras had two goals and three assists, and the United States beat the Czech Republic 7-0 on Tuesday to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of the world junior hockey championship.
Bobby Brink had two goals for the U.S., and Spencer Knight made 22 saves. The Americans improved to 2-1 in Group B and close out preliminary round play Thursday night against Sweden.
The United States grabbed control with three goals in the second period. Brink made it 1-0 at 5:33 when he collected the rebound off a Brett Berard shot and beat Czech goaltender Lukas Parik. After Zegras scored off a nice cross-ice pass by Henry Thrun, Brink made it 3-0 when he angled a shot past Parik from the top of the crease.
The U.S. added four more in the third, including three power-play goals. Zegras made it 4-0 at 6:03, and Arthur Kaliyev, Cole Caufield and Matthew Boldy closed out the scoring.
(Canadian Press/Photo: Hockey Canada)
