From controversial calls to lower seed upsets, the world junior quarterfinals offered a spectacle as is usual. Tuesday’s action saw plenty of import draft picks who are playing in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) thrive for their respective teams. Let’s begin with the early morning game in the Eastern time zone, that being Finland’s 4-3 defeat over Slovakia in overtime.
Out of the 24 OHL players named to their respective national teams, there were 8 of them featured in this matchup. Dalibor Dvorský (SBY) scored a goal and an assist, with his feed to Filip Mesar (KIT) coming in a timely fashion in the third period to tie the game at 3. Unfortunately for those two players, their tournament ends, and they are set to return to Ontario. On the Finnish side, Kasper Halttunen (LDN), and Arttu Kärki (SOO) failed to produce offensively in third-line/pair minutes, and Rasmus Kumpulainen (OSH) was the 13th forward and did not see any game action.
Statline for OHL Players in Finland vs Slovakia
- Finland – Arttu Kärki (SOO): 13:10 TOI, 0 Points, 0 SOG, +1
- Finland – Kasper Halttunen (LDN): 12:21 TOI, 0 Points, 5 SOG, +1
- Finland – Rasmus Kumpulainen (OSH): Did Not Play
- Slovakia – Filip Mešár (KIT): 22:51 TOI, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Points, 4 SOG, 83.3 FOW%, -1
- Slovakia – Dalibor Dvorský (SBY): 22:02 TOI, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Points, 5 SOG, 41.1 FOW%, +2
- Slovakia – Servac Petrovsky (OSA): 19.23 TOI, 0 Points, 4 SOG, 44.4 FOW%, -1
- Slovakia – Roman Kukumberg (SAR): 8:44 TOI, 0 Points, 2 PIM, 0 SOG
- Slovakia – Martin Misiak (ERI): 14:12 TOI, 0 Points, 1 SOG, +1
Czechia defeated Canada by a score of 3-2 in their quarterfinal matchup, with limited contributions from OHL players. Easton Cowan (LDN) had a one-touch pass to spring Matthew Wood for a goal. Besides that, the bigger names on both sides produced limited offensive numbers in a trap-styled matchup, which favoured the Czechs over the game. Carson Rehkopf (KIT) has scored 31 goals in 31 games with the Rangers, but was not used in more favaoruble minutes for scoring situations at 5v5 and on the powerplay in this tournament. As the OHL trade deadline approaches on January 10th, some of these players could find themselves on the trade block upon return to Canada.
Statline for OHL Players in Canada vs Czechia
- Canada – Oliver Bonk (LDN): 17:50 TOI, 0 Points, 2 SOG, -1
- Canada – Jorian Donovan (BRA): 8:05 TOI, 0 Points, 0 SOG
- Canada – Ty Nelson (NBB): 4:36 TOI, 0 Points, 0 SOG
- Canada – Owen Allard (SOO): 8:55 TOI, 0 Points, 1 SOG, -1
- Canada – Owen Beck (PBH): 13:45 TOI, 0 Points, 0 SOG, 81.8 FOW%, -1
- Canada – Easton Cowan (LDN): 15:56 TOI, 1 Assist, 1 SOG, +1
- Canada – Carson Rehkopf (KIT): 8:50 TOI, 0 Points, 2 SOG,
- *Canada – Matthew Poitras (GUE): 16:02 TOI, 1 Assist, 2 SOG, 61.5 FOW%,
- Czechia – Tomáš Hamara (BRA): 20:50 TOI, 0 Points, 1 SOG
- Czechia – Eduard Šalé (BAR): 17:25 TOI, 0 Points, 5 SOG
- Czechia – Matyas Sapovaliv (SAG): 16:52 TOI, 0 Points, 1 SOG, 35.7 FOW%
- Czechia – Simon Slavicek (FLT): Did Not Play
- Czechia – Jakub Vondras (SBY): Did Not Play
*Playing in NHL, but still on Guelph Storm roster
Sandis Vilmanis (SAR) had an assist in the United States’ 7-2 victory over Latvia, while also playing first-line minutes for the team. Carrey Terrance (ERI) was used as an extra skater and could only be used as an injury replacement. Gavin Hayes (FLT) was the 13th forward for the USA and did not see any game action. Sam Hildebrandt (BAR) was the third goaltender for the team and did not see any action.
Statline for OHL Players in Latvia vs United States
- Latvia – Sandis Vilmanis (SAR): 21:24 TOI, 1 Assist, 6 SOG, -1
- United States – Carrey Terrance (ERI): Did Not Play
- United States – Gavin Hayes (FLT): Did Not Play
- United States – Sam Hillebrandt (BAR): Did Not Play
That brings us to our final matchup of the day, which was Sweden’s controversial 3-2 victory over Switzerland. There are no Swedish players that are on OHL teams, meaning the lone player in Rodwin Dionicio (SAG) is the Swiss name to highlight. He had a 24.22 TOI playing in second-pair minutes, 4 shots on goal, and was a +1 on the night.
Statline for OHL Players in Sweden vs Switzerland
- Switzerland – Rodwin Dionicio (SAG): 24:22 TOI, 0 Points, 4 PIM, 4 SOG, +1