CANADA ROUTS SWITZERLAND 8-2 IN WORLD JUNIOR QUARTERFINAL

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Drake Batherson scored twice as Canada earned an 8-2 quarter-final win over Switzerland on Tuesday at the world junior hockey championship.

Canada will face the Czech Republic in semifinal action Thursday. The Czechs advanced with a 4-3 quarter-final shootout win over Finland.

The Canadians beat the Czech Republic 9-0 on Dec. 20 in a pre-tournament exhibition game in London, Ont. But the Czechs didn’t put out their full roster and had just arrived in North America.

Brett Howden added a goal and two assists for Canada, which won Group A with three wins and a shootout loss. Cale Makar, Jordan Kyrou, Conor Timmins, Dillon Dube and Maxime Comtois also scored.

Canadian goalie Carter Hart stopped 12 shots for the win.

Dario Rohrbach and Axel Simic replied for Switzerland, which finished fourth in Group B. Philip Wuthrich stopped 21-of-26 shots in 27:24 of work before being replaced by Matteo Ritz. He turned aside 31-of-34 shots.

Meanwhile Kristian Reichel and Martin Necas scored shootout goals and the Czech Republic defeated Finland 4-3 in a world junior quarterfinal on Tuesday.

The Czechs will play Canada in the semifinals on Thursday night.

(The Canadian Press)