The second day of action in the Hlinka was not short on offense and goal scoring. Let us take a look at today’s high event set of games.

Game 5: Czechia 8-3 Germany

It was clear from their very first opportunity that the Czech power play was dialed in today. They had a 75% efficiency, scoring as many goals as Germany did in all situations. Overall, the offensive structure both in transition and in the OZ was clicking strongly for the Czechs as they seemed to accomplish whatever they sought out to do. F Petr Hörnig (Extraliga junioru, HC Plzen), F Maximilian Mares (QMJHL, Rimouski Océanic), and D Lukas Kachlir (Czech Extraliga, Bílí Tygři Liberec) were the guiding lights on this journey of effective dominance, all recording three point games. While Czechia did build up a 6-0 lead, Germany did not take it fully lightly and had enough of a response to make this an entertaining matchup in at least some phases. All throughout, I was especially impressed, as I expected I would be, by C Max Calce (DEL, Adler Mannheim). He demonstrated that he is a very detail oriented player who does a lot of little things right on top of his clear skill level and impressive work rate. Prior to scoring a goal in which he followed up an impressive burst of speed down the left wing with an outstanding release after being found all alone by a D Jannes Schreiber (DNL U20, Krefelder EV 1981) stretch pass, he impressed me by getting the right positioning to draw a tripping call on a pseudo-breakaway (though he was hoping for a penalty shot). Germany performed well at a fair number of fundamental components of the game, just were simply outmatched by the Czech offense and especially by their work on the man advantage. There won’t be a miracle run for them this year, but I can see some progress happening in their developmental hockey apparatuses.

Game 6: Switzerland 7-6 Sweden

Alas, I cannot recap this game in earnest as I only saw highlights of it and heard some updates. However, I did somewhat expect Sweden to come out of this gunslinging, back-and-forth affair as I was hearing about it. Quite a surprising result, and kudos to the Swiss for pulling off the stunner of the tournament so far. This result also entails that Sweden’s backs are against the wall now, with their fate not fully in their hands due to this regulation loss plus dropping a point by only beating Slovakia in OT. The last day of the preliminaries could be quite fascinating.

Game 7: Canada 6-1 Slovakia

This was truly Landon DuPont’s redemption game. The defenseman/popular choice for #1 overall in 2027 looked stellar and brought the energy the University of Michigan is hoping he’ll have in the coming season. Not only did he score the game’s first goal on a power play marker, but he was an outstanding facilitator from the back end and drove play better than anyone else on the ice. This was an exceptional bounce-back from his fairly subdued outing against Switzerland on day one. His only blemish was an avoidable interference penalty along the half-wall, but this was a more than forgivable sin. Beyond that, the chemistry of line one looked outstanding in this game. Regina Pats linemates and close friends Liam Pue and Maddox Schultz continue to engage in their usual activities and their counterpart Camryn Warren (OHL, North Bay Battalion) doesn’t just look like a third wheel, either. Not only did he score in this matchup with Pue tapping into his latent playmaker to make it happen, but he had several other high danger opportunities and looked very situationally aware, both of the opposition and his linemates, when trying to make things happen. Naturally, in a game where the victor out-shot the defeated 48-13 (including 30-4 going into the third period), plenty of superlatives could be given to Canada. However, Slovakian G Nicko Zakk Havel (US U18 AAA, Windy City Storm) deserves his flowers, as well. He utilized a combination of great positioning, vision, and athleticism to keep this game “only” to 6-1 (though perhaps it could have been 7-1 depending on judgment of Ryerson Edgar’s rescinded tally in the very final stage of the match – Let’s not go there, though). This may have been an exhibition of exceptional promise down the road, but who can say with that position at this stage, really.

Game 8: USA 4-1 Finland

Regrettably, I did not have a way of watching this game. Credit must be given nevertheless for the USA to a solid win. F Ethan Sung (USHL, Sioux Falls Stampede) scoring two goals is certainly an eye-catching statistic. One would certainly hope that this could be a breakout performance that aids Team USA throughout the rest of the run.

Day 3 schedule:

Game 9: Switzerland vs. Slovakia – 1:00 PM MDT/3:00 PM EDT
Game 10: Czechia vs. Finland – 3:00 PM MDT/5:00 PM EDT
Game 11: Sweden vs. Canada – 5:00 PM MDT/7:00 PM EDT

Game 12: USA vs. Germany – 7:00 PM MDT/9:00 PM EDT