One of the most anticipated matches of the 2013 World Junior Championships will take place when Canada and the United States face-off in a crucial tilt on Sunday morning.
Canada has gotten off to an ideal start with two regulation wins in two matches. After a 9-3 destruction of Germany on Wednesday, Canada added a solid 6-3 win over a strong Slovakia squad to cement their position atop the group. Canada looked out of sorts as they conceded two first period goals and entered the second down 2-0. Canada's Ryan Strome scored 2:16 into the middle frame to cut the score to 2-1, but another Slovakia goal mid-way through the period restored the two goal advantage for the Slovakians. Canada then exploded for three goals in the final eight and a half minutes. Morgan Rielly scored first and Ty Rattie added a second at the 15:17 mark. Mark Schiefele added his third goal of the competition with just under a minute to play in the second. Canada added another pair of goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Strome to give their team some breathing room. Nugent-Hopkins now leads all players with seven points in two games while Strome has five points in the two matches. Both players are the top two scorers of the tournament. Malcolm Subban was in goal for both matches and has given up a few suspect goals on the way. He could prove to be the weakest link for the squad.
The United States lost to Russia on Friday and are now in a perilous situation in Group B. Another loss could put them back into fourth place in the group especially with fourth place Slovakia likely to destroy Germany on Sunday and potentially leap-frog the Americans into the third position. The Americans trailed Russia heading into the second but Jacob Trouba and Alex Galchenyuk teamed up to tie the match. Russia eventually won the game, but the United States have proven to have one advantage over Canada: goaltending. Goalie John Gibson has a shutout and limited Russia's dynamic offense to just two goals. More importantly, the United States dominated the game against Russia, a squad widely believe to win this group easily.
If Canada wins, they automatically lock up a berth for the next ground. They only really need one point to earn a spot in the next round. If the Americans win, they only need one point in their match against Slovakia to qualify for the final round and could afford to lose in overtime to Slovakia on Monday. However a loss puts pressure on the United States to win against Slovakia.
Prediction: This will be an offensive affair, but the United States surprises Canada. 5-4 United States.
Start Time: 4:30 AM EST
TV: TSN (Repeat Broadcast at 12 PM EST and 8 PM EST)
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