3 things learned at Day 3 of World Juniors

Thursday is the fourth day of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Day 3 results

Slovakia 6, United States 3
Canada 11, Germany 2

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What We Learned on Day 3

Bedard erupts for Canada

Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, tied a Canada single-game record with seven points (three goals, four assists) in an 11-2 win against Germany at Scotiabank Centre.
"I was joking with him that he has seven points in this game and I have six combined points all year," Canada center
Shane Wright
said.
Wright was referring to the fact he had two points (one goal, one assist) with the Seattle Kraken and four goals with Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League prior to joining Canada at the World Juniors.
"So, just an unbelievable game and pretty crazy what he was doing out there ... it was a special night for sure," Wright said.
Bedard tied four other Canadian players for most points in a WJC game (Dave Andreychuk vs. Norway, three goals, four assists, Jan. 4, 1983; Brenden Morrow vs. Kazakhstan, two goals, five assists, Jan. 2, 1999; Mike Cammalleri vs. France, three goals, four assists, Dec. 25, 2001; Gabriel Bourque vs. Latvia, three goals, four assists, Dec. 26, 2009).
The 17-year-old leads the tournament with eight points (four goals, four assists) in two games.
"I think it's cool," Bedard said of tying the record. "There's obviously some pretty good names on that list, but it's good to get the win. I got a couple pretty lucky ones, so it was just one of those nights."

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United States looks to regroup

United States captain
Luke Hughes
said he and his teammates need to respond the right way after a 6-3 loss to Slovakia at Avenir Centre.
"I think every guy on our team has to be better, including myself," the New Jersey Devils defenseman prospect said. "I just think we need to play a full 60 minutes. In our win against Latvia (5-2) on Monday, we started slow and then we got back to our game. Against Slovakia, we kind of went to sleep in the second period (when Slovakia scored three goals), so I think we've just got to play a full 60 [minutes] and we'll be good."
U.S. coach Rand Pecknold said the loss should be a wake-up call for his group.
"We got to have more urgency with how we handle pucks, how we defend off the rush, and clean that up a little bit," Pecknold said. "And I'd add to that ... I think we're just way too cute in the neutral zone with pucks and our puck management has been really poor.
"We're not getting enough offensive-zone time because we're turning pucks over in the neutral zone. It's a process. We're not going to panic. It's one game. I'm disappointed and they're disappointed but we'll move on and be better [Thursday]."

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Slovakia stays the course

Dalibor Dvorsky, an A-rated skater on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list for the 2023 draft, tempered his excitement when asked about the win against the United States.
It was the first victory by Slovakia against the Americans at the World Juniors since a 3-2 preliminary-round win on Dec. 28, 2017. The U.S. won eight of the previous nine games.
"It's obviously amazing to win against the Americans and we're all happy, but we need to stay humble and play like this the next game," said Dvorsky, who scored a goal. "I mean, it's just the beginning of the tournament."
Slovakia was coming off a 5-2 loss to Finland on Tuesday.
"What I learned from the 2022 WJC is that we need to play more as a team," he said. "We need to just grind, play and shoot a lot more. In the summer, we didn't shoot enough, so now we're just going shoot from everywhere, go for rebounds, and it is better for us."

On Tap for Day 4

All games on NHL Network in U.S., TSN and RDS in Canada
Latvia vs. Finland (11 a.m. ET) -- Finland (1-0-1-0) won 5-2 against Slovakia on Tuesday after a stunning 3-2 overtime loss against Switzerland on Monday. "I think we're pretty confident; we adjusted from our first game, and we started playing faster," Finland forward
Brad Lambert
(Winnipeg Jets) said. "I think that'll help us get more offensive zone time, get more chances." Latvia (0-0-1-1) has been led by defenseman Gustavs Ozolins (three assists; 2023 NHL Draft eligible), who will attend Bemidji State University (NCAA) in 2023-24.
Sweden vs. Czechia (1:30 p.m. ET) -- The winner moves into first place in Group A. Czechia (2-0-0-0) has four players among the top five in tournament scoring, including defenseman
Stanislav Svozil
(Columbus Blue Jackets), the tournament leader, with five points (one goal, four assists). Forward
Jiri Kulich
(Buffalo Sabres) leads the tourney with three goals. Goalie Tomas Suchanek (2023 NHL Draft eligible) has three assists and a .956 save percentage in back-to-back wins against Canada and Austria. Sweden (2-0-0-0), which has outscored the opposition 12-0, has been boosted by forward
Filip Bystedt
(San Jose Sharks) with four points (two goals, two assists).
United States vs. Switzerland (4 p.m. ET) -- The United States (1-0-0-1) is coming off a stunning 6-3 loss against Slovakia on Wednesday. "We got our teeth kicked in," U.S. coach Rand Pecknold said. "We're going to rebound. We'll be really good (against Switzerland). It was a lesson learned, a teachable moment. We'll move on." Switzerland (0-2-0-0) has had back-to-back wins against Finland in overtime and Latvia in a shootout behind forward Attilio Biasca (one goal, one assist) and Dallas Stars defenseman prospect
Lian Bichsel
(two assists).
Austria vs. Canada (6:30 p.m. ET) -- Canada, which lost 5-2 to Czechia on Monday, rebounded with an 11-2 win against Germany on Wednesday. Bedard had seven points (three goals, four assists) and
Dylan Guenther
(Arizona Coyotes) scored three goals. "Obviously, you never feel good running up the score, but I think goal differential matters and, at the end of the day, if we can have a better positive goal differential I think that's something we're going to try and do," said Wright, the Canada captain. Austria (0-0-0-2) has been outscored 20-0 in losses to Sweden (11-0) and Czechia (9-0).

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Quick links

World Junior Championship predictions
Group A preview
Group B preview
World Juniors Championship rosters
Tournament schedule
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