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2021 WJC Day 7 RECAP: The Groups are decided as Sweden can’t get past the US, the Czechs do their thing, and Canada rolls on past Finland

The Prelims are over, let’s see how these last few games played out!

By SkyonAir
IIHF Images

Game One - Czechs take care of business against Austria, win 7-1

Austria’s goalie, Sebastian Wraneschitz, deserves a medal for having to put up with all this. Dude’s taken an absolute shelling this tournament.

Game Notes:

  • I wasn’t kidding about Wraneschitz at all. At the end of the prelims, all together, he’s seen almost 200 shots in 3 games. That is one hundred more than the next player, Thibault Fatton, who’s only seen 94.
  • Czechs have drawn Canada in the Quarters. Given how weirdly their tournament has ended up, it’s nice to know that while they’re not long for this tournament, they’re at least going out with a smile.
  • Martin Lang is apparently the Czech Republic’s man, with 4 points in 4 games. He’s gonna need to be...more than that to beat Canada

Game Two - Finland gets a harsh wakeup call in 4-1 whalloping at the hands of Canada

Hey don’t worry, Finland! You still get 2nd place in the group! You do have a lot of work to do, however.

Game Notes:

  • The big problem Finland faced was that they simply could not stop Canada, and frankly...I don’t know how you do. Dylan Cozens is a problem. Quenton Byfield is a burner. Devon Levi has only rarely actually faced a shot he’s failed to see coming. Canada made their point for two straight periods by dropping 30+ shots and then daring Finland to attempt to come back. I feel very bad for the Czechs right now.
  • Finland will have to pick up the pieces and go face a very determined Sweden, who will more than likely be looking to get things back up to snuff. I don’t expect their tournament will continue past that, given how squirrelly their PK can be.
  • Bruins in this game: Mantykivi did not play in this game.

Game Three - USA’s Trevor Zegras near-singlehandedly demolishes Sweden in 4-0 blanking.

Sweden was not expecting this.

Game Notes:

  • This was, by all accounts, a pretty tight game if not for the fact that Trevor Zegras scored from an absolutely absurd angle not two minutes after Helleson got the States on the board. After that, it really looked like Sweden didn’t have an answer for what the US was bringing. They tried! Oh how they tried, but Spencer Knight showed up big time. It’s clear that whatever that was in the beginning of the tourney wasn’t anything to be concerned about.
  • 3 points in a game for that Zegras fella. He’s looking like a pretty good player!
  • Now, the Swedish take on the Finns, and the USA go to take on Slovakia. It’s gonna be a big couple days of practice before the quarterfinals begin

Final Standings:

IIHF Standings page

Thanks to there being no relegation this year, both Austria and Switzerland’s tournaments are over. Better luck next year, guys!

Quarterfinal matchups:

Russia vs. Germany - 2pm

Finland vs. Sweden - 3:30pm

Canada vs. Czech Republic - 7pm

USA vs. Slovakia - 10:30pm

We’ll have a primer for the quarters and then primers for the semis and finals added on to the recaps. Well done to everybody who made it, and thanks for reading through the Prelims!