It was the defending champion’s first major appearance at the World Championships in Finland. Canada challenged Germany at the start. The Canadians were superior in the first third. The maple leaves knew how to use the role of favorites and their superiority. The defending champion, who only came with NHL players, went 2-0 into the first break through Cole Sillinger (9th), son of former Vienna legionnaire Mike Sillinger, and Pierre-Luc Dubois (18th). After the Germans scored a goal through Marc Michaelis (28′), the Canadians pulled away decisively with two power play goals from Dubois (32′), Kent Johnson (34′) and Noah Gregor (38′). Matthias Plachta (42nd) and Moritz Seider in twice the majority (53rd) gave the DEB team hope again. But in the end Canada was able to make ends meet.
World Championships have been held in Finland eight times, but the hosts have never managed to win a medal. With 17 Olympic champions from Beijing, the Finns want to end the “home curse” this year. The start was successful, even if the Norwegians initially proved to be a tough nut to crack after the official opening with a rocking version of the national anthem. In a balanced first third Harri Pesonen broke the spell (19th). After half an hour, the Finnish game became powerful, Toni Rajala (32nd) and Hannes Björninen (37th), gold goal scorer in the Olympic final, converted the superiority into goals. Joel Armia (42nd/PP) and Jere Sallinen (58th) followed up in front of 11,700 spectators in the final third.
Already in the afternoon the USA was able to achieve a complete success. With a 3:0 lead after the first period, the Canadians quickly dampened the Latvians’ hopes of a surprise. Captain Seth Jones on the power play (11th) and Thomas Bordeleau (12th), who made NHL goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins look bad when outnumbered, ensured clear conditions early on. Sam Lafferty increased to 4:0 after 33 seconds in the middle period. At the beginning of the final section, the Latvian fans were finally able to celebrate. Andris Dzerins from Black Wings Linz, who played in a line with Renars Krastenbergs (VSV), scored the consolation goal on the power play (42nd).
Beijing Winter Olympics bronze medalists Slovakia triumphed over France 4-2. Slovakia led 2-0 with goals from Pavol Regenda (11′) and Tomas Tatar (22’/PP), the only NHL player on the roster. The French, who are in place of the Russians who have been excluded from the World Cup, managed to tie thanks to Anthony Rech (27th) and Jordan Perret (33rd). Samuel Takac (39′) and Regenda with a goal in the final seconds into an empty goal brought the Slovaks three points.
