World Junior Championship roundup: Projected top pick Celebrini has 5 points for Canada

Kulich, Sale each has hat trick in Czechia win; Germany stuns Finland

By Mike G. Morreale

@mikemorrealeNHL NHL.com Senior Draft Writer

December 27, 2023

Wednesday is the second day of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held at Scandinavium and Frolundaborg in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Day 2 games

Canada 10, Latvia 0 -- Macklin Celebrini, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, had a goal and four assists for Canada in a Group A game at Scandinavium.

Celebrini, a freshman at Boston University, scored and had four shots on goal in 13:19 of ice time in his WJC debut for Canada in a 5-2 win against Finland on Tuesday. The 17-year-old had three shots in 13:34 of ice time against Latvia.

"Having guys feed off you and playing well with different guys, it definitely helps," Celebrini said. "It helps the team and it pushes us in the right direction. It means a lot."

Conor Geekie (Arizona Coyotes) and Carson Rehkopf (Seattle Kraken) each scored two goals, Matthew Wood (Nashville Predators) had a goal and two assists, and Brayden Yager (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Fraser Minten (Toronto Maple Leafs) each had a goal and an assist for Canada (2-0-0-0). Mathis Rousseau (2024 draft eligible) made 22 saves.

Latvia (0-0-0-2) has six players back from last year's team that swept Austria in the best-of-3 relegation round to remain at the top level of the World Juniors.

Geekie scored a power-play goal on a snap shot from the right face-off circle to make it 1-0 at 5:19 of the first period. Yager pushed it to 2-0 on a wrist shot from the right circle at 7:11.

Owen Allard (2024 draft eligible) scored a power-play goal on a deflection from the slot at 1:17 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-0.

Rehkopf drove the net from the blue line to make it 4-0 at 4:46 of the second. Celebrini then received a stretch pass from Wood and scored with a backhand on a breakaway to make it 5-0 at 10:56.

Canada scored five goals on 14 shots in the third, including one by Matthew Poitras, who has five goals in 27 games with the Boston Bruins this season.

Canada has outscored Latvia 41-4 in four wins against them at the WJC.

Each country will next play on Friday, with Latvia facing Finland (8:30 a.m. ET) and Canada playing Sweden (1:30 p.m. ET).

Macklin Celebrini tallies five points in WJC game

Germany 4, Finland 3 -- Veit Oswald (2024 NHL Draft eligible) scored two goals for Germany in an upset win during a Group A game at Scandinavium.

The victory by Germany was its first against Finland at the World Junior Championship in 26 tries (1-0-0-25). Seven players on Germany returned from the 2023 team that finished eighth.

Eric Hordler had two assists, and Philipp Dietl made 40 saves for Germany (1-0-0-0).

Samu Bau (Arizona Coyotes) had a goal and an assist, and Niklas Kokko (Seattle Kraken) made 24 saves for Finland (0-0-0-2).

Germany scored three goals on 10 shots in the second period to take a 4-3 lead.

Roman Kechter (2024 draft eligible) scored on a rebound at the right post to tie it 3-3 at 13:07 of the second.

Oswald, a 19-year-old forward representing his country for the second straight year, then made it 4-3 at 14:38 on a snap shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle.

Dietl (2024 draft eligible) made 33 consecutive saves, including 17 in the third period, after allowing a goal to Bau that gave Finland a 3-2 lead at 3:05 of the second.

Germany will next play Sweden on Thursday (1:30 p.m. ET). Finland, which lost 5-2 to Canada on Tuesday, will play Latvia on Friday (8:30 a.m. ET).

Slovakia 3, Switzerland 0 -- Adam Gajan (Chicago Blackhawks) made 36 saves to earn his first shutout at the World Juniors for Slovakia in a Group B game at Frolundaborg.

Slovakia opened the WJC with two straight wins for the first time since 2002, when it finished eighth. Slovakia last won a medal at the tournament in 2015 (bronze).

Peter Repcik (2024 NHL Draft eligible) had a goal and an assist for Slovakia (2-0-0-0).

Alessio Beglieri (2024 draft eligible) made 17 saves for Switzerland (0-0-0-1).

Samuel Honzek (Calgary Flames) scored with a backhand from the slot to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead at 8:33 of the first period. Repcik had whiffed on an attempt at the right post but was able to back pass the puck to the front of the net from the end boards.

"I thought we played a really good game and showed character," Honzek said. "We had a couple of little mistakes, but we had an amazing goalie and he had our backs."

Honzek was denied on a penalty shot at 2:56 of the second period when Beglieri got his stick blade on a backhand attempt down the middle of the ice.

Repcik, though, scored an empty-net goal for a 2-0 lead at 18:19 of the third period. Servac Petrovsky (Minnesota Wild) pushed it to 3-0 with a short-handed empty-net goal at 19:12.

Gajan, who was selected in the second round (No. 35) of the 2023 NHL Draft, was making his second straight start after making 27 saves in a 6-2 win against Czechia on Tuesday. He made 11 saves in the third period Wednesday, including a sprawling glove save against Gregory Weber (2024 draft eligible) at the right post.

The 19-year-old was named the best goalie of the 2023 WJC after finishing with a 2.40 GAA, .936 save percentage and one shutout in four games. He made 33 saves in a 6-3 victory against the United States in the preliminary round, and 53 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Canada, the eventual champions, in the quarterfinals.

Switzerland will next play the United States on Thursday (11 a.m. ET). Slovakia will face Norway on Friday (6 a.m. ET).

Czechia 8, Norway 1 -- Jiri Kulich (Buffalo Sabres) and Eduard Sale (Seattle Kraken) each had a hat trick for Czechia in a Group B game at Frolundaborg.

Kulich also had an assist, Tomas Hamara (Ottawa Senators) had two assists, and Michael Hrabal (Arizona Coyotes) made 20 saves for Czechia (1-0-0-1).

Matyas Melovsky, a right-shot center who is a C-rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list and a projected fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, had three assists.

Markus Stensrud (2024 draft eligible) made 32 saves for Norway (0-0-0-2), which lost 4-1 to the United States on Tuesday and is playing in the top division at the WJC for the first time since 2014.

Kulich gave Czechia a 1-0 lead at 10:30 of the first period from the top of the left face-off circle. The 19-year-old forward then scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 17:46.

Johannes Lokkeberg scored on a shot from the left point to pull Norway to within 2-1 at 1:15 of the second period.

Sale pushed it to 4-1 at 12:52 off a turnover in front of Norway's net. The goal came 37 seconds after Ales Cech scored on a shot from the right point.

Sale pushed the lead to 5-1 on a wrist shot from the right hash marks at 18:46.

Matyas Sapovaliv (Vegas Golden Knights) had a shot from the right point deflect in off his leg for a power-play goal at 8:49 of the third period.

Sale scored a power-play goal to make it 7-1 at 13:16, and Kulich scored his third goal at 15:15 for the 8-1 final.

Each country will next play on Friday, with Norway facing Slovakia (6 a.m. ET) and Czechia playing the United States (11 a.m. ET).

On Tap

All games on NHL Network in U.S., TSN in Canada

Switzerland vs. United States (11 a.m. ET) -- The United States will look to build upon a tournament-opening 4-1 win against Norway at Frolundaborg on Tuesday. The U.S., which finished third at the 2023 WJC, received a big game from forward Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets), who scored twice, and goalie Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings), who made 22 saves. The United States (1-0-0-0) has won 23 times and tied twice in 25 games against Switzerland at World Juniors, including a 5-1 win in the preliminary round at the 2023 WJC. Switzerland (0-0-0-1) lost 3-0 to Slovakia in its tournament opener on Wednesday. "We had a lot of chances but we couldn't score against Slovakia," Switzerland captain Jonas Taibel (2024 NHL Draft eligible) said. "Overall, it was a pretty good first game, but maybe we were holding our sticks too tight. We just have to shoot more and go to the net more, and good things will happen."

Germany vs. Sweden (1:30 p.m. ET) -- Germany (1-0-0-0) will look for its second straight victory at Scandinavium after earning the first major upset of the tournament with a 4-3 win against Finland on Wednesday. It marked the first World Juniors win by Germany against Finland in 26 games (1-0-0-25). Look for goalie Philipp Dietl to make his second straight start after making 40 saves against Finland, including 17 in the third period. Sweden (1-0-0-0) will be without Elias Salomonsson (Winnipeg Jets) after the defenseman received a one-game suspension for boarding Latvia forward Emils Veckaktins 25 seconds into a 6-0 win against Latvia on Tuesday. Filip Bystedt (San Jose Sharks) and Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver Canucks) each have two goals in the tournament for Sweden.