Tuesday, December 27, 2011

U.S., Canada cruise to open junior hockey worlds

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Charlie Coyle had a hat trick and Kyle Rau added two goals and the United States dominated Denmark 11-3 to open the world junior men's hockey championship Monday.

With a 3-2 lead going into the second period, the U.S. (1-0) scored six goals to put the game out of reach.

U.S. captain Jason Zucker, with two assists, Stephen Johns, Jarred Tinordi, Nick Bjugstad, Bill Arnold and JT Miller also scored.

Mathias Bau-Hansen scored twice in the first period to keep the Danes close through 20 minutes.

Thomas Spelling had the other goals for Denmark (0-1).

In other games, Mark Stone had a hat trick to lead Canada to an 8-1 win.

Stone also had an assist for Canada. Jonathan Huberdeau had a five-point effort with a goal and four assists.

Brendan Gallagher, Defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Ryan Strome and Brett Connolly of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning also scored.

Alexander Ruuttu, son of former NHL player Christian Ruuttu, scored for Finland early in the second period.

Canada coach Don Hay went with experience in net, giving Mark Visentin the first start of the tournament. The Phoenix Coyotes prospect made 24 saves on 25 shots for the win.

Visentin was Canada's starting goaltender for the medal round of the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.

Finland went with Chris Gibson. Canada finished with 42 shots on the Los Angeles Kings prospect.

Canada has Tuesday off before facing the Czech Republic on Wednesday and Denmark the following day. The hosts conclude Pool B play on Saturday versus the United States.

In Calgary, Sweden defeated Latvia 9-4 in a Pool A game with defending champion Russia set to face Switzerland at night.

The top team in each pool earns a bye to the semifinal round. The second and third teams cross over and meet in the quarterfinals.

Max Friberg scored four goals for Sweden. Ottawa Senators prospect Mika Zibanejad, who plays for Djurgardens of the SEL, scored a pair of power-play goals for Sweden, which led 3-2 after the first period and 6-3 after the second.

Huberdeau and Stone were standouts at Canada's summer camp playing on the wings of center Ryan Johansen.

Johansen wasn't made available to play for Canada by the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Huberdeau and Stone quickly re-established their chemistry from the summer. Strome was their center for most of the game.

The win came at a heavy cost for Canada as forward Devante Smith-Pelly broke his left foot blocking a shot in the second period and has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.

The Anaheim Ducks forward is one of two NHL players on the team, and Canada cannot replace him on its roster. At this point the only situation in which a team could add another player would be in the case of a goaltender injury.

Huberdeau was the third overall pick in this year's draft by the Florida Panthers and was the Memorial Cup MVP last season.

Stone was a sixth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators last year.

Both are over 6 feet 1 and difficult for the opposition to contain.

"Stone just continues to score goals for us and it's great to see Jonathan get some confidence and start the tournament off with a game like that," Hay said.

"They're two different guys, but they do good work in their areas of the ice. Mark does a great job in front of the net. He's got great hands for a big guy. Jonathan really sees the ice well and can put pucks in the small areas."

Stone's third goal at 4:05 of the third period brought hats onto the ice. Connolly scored 52 seconds into the period, driving the wing and beating Gibson with a wrist shot. Strome added another goal at 7:18.

"He's always in the right spot in the slot," Huberdeau said. "He scores a lot of goals. You could see that in exhibition games. He scored in every exhibition game since the beginning so it's easy to play with him."

"It's the first win, but to do it in that kind of manner in front of the home crowd is pretty awesome," Canadian captain Jaden Schwartz said.

"You look at the start we had, we were extremely excited and you want to enjoy the moment. It's hard to calm people down when you skate in front of a crowd like that."

Canada has finished in the medals of the tournament 13 straight years, including five straight golds from 2005 to 2009. The Canadians have settled for silver in the past two tournaments.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/more/12/26/world.junior.hockey.canada.ap/index.html?eref=si_latest

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