World Junior A Challenge Recap: Latvia upsets Sweden, West wins battle of Canada

Latvia pulled off a shocking come-from-behind victory to beat Sweden, while Canada West managed to beat Canada East on the second day of play at the World Junior A Challenge in Cornwall:

West wins battle of Canada

Power-play prowess proved to be the difference as Canada West scored three times on the man advantage to win 6-3 over Canada East.

Momentum was hard to come by on Monday, with the teams trading goals all night. Patrick Saini scored Canada East’s first goal on the power play at 3:35, with the lead lasting until Liam Watkins sniped a shot past Ethan Morrow for the 1-1 goal. Lucas Buzziol gave Canada East its second lead of the game with seven minutes to go on a secondary scoring chance to make it 2-1 to close out the opening stanza.

Hudson Malinoski was a difference-maker for Canada West and he scored his first of two goals on an extended 5-on-3. At 31:37 he caught a flying puck from an Aiden Fink shot and knocked in the 2-2 goal, a surprising one at that.

Before the power play was fully over, Conyr Hellyer got one in close to give White its first lead of the game, but it wouldn’t last long. That’s because just a minute later, Andy Reist’s power-play goal shook things up and tied the game at three. That gave East some momentum late in the first, but Malinoski’s second of the night surprised Morrow and gave West the advantage back. A second Watkins goal – giving him four on the tournament – and an empty netter from Caelan Fitzpatrick helped seal the deal for Canada West, who became the first team with a perfect record after two games.

Latvia shocks with comeback win over Sweden

Despite trailing 2-0 early in the game, Latvia managed to pull off a shocking 3-2 overtime victory over Sweden for the team’s first WJAC victory ever.

Latvian netminder Aksels Ozols, who was a star against Canada East on Sunday, making 35 stops in the victory. It didn’t start off well, though, as goals for Elliot Stahlberg and Otto Stenberg scored a goal each in the first to make it 2-0 Sweden – a lead that lasted until the 45th minute.

That’s when Latvia took advantage of a power play. Kristers Ansons, a 2024 NHL Draft prospect, only for Toms Mots to tie it up with nine minutes remaining in the third. The Swedes couldn’t generate anything in the extra frame, and Mots instead scored the game-winning goal to pull off the shocking victory against a Swedish team full of 2023 NHL Draft prospects.

Three Stars

Toms Mots, F (Latvia): Can’t imagine many predicted Latvia to beat Sweden, but Mots’ two goals proved to be the difference.
Hudson Malinoski, F (Canada West): With two goals, including the tying goal and the eventual game-winner, Malinoski was on his game on Monday.
Aksels Kzols, G (Latvia): It’s hard to play back-to-backs as a goalie, but he was spectacular in both outings.