5 things to watch in Canada vs. Switzerland

There were only two games played on day four of the 2016 World Junior Championship, but the second of the two matches offered plenty of tense moments as Switzerland and Canada went right down to the wire, with Canada gaining the edge in the shootout.

Victoria Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts scored the tying goal for Canada at the 12:17 mark of the second period. Switzerland is still searching for their first win of the tournament.

Switzerland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Canada halved the lead on a late goal by Dylan Strome to send the teams to the locker rooms with the Swiss leading, 2-1.

With neither side about to score a victor during the final period or during overtime, a shoot-out was required to separate the teams and successes for Brayden Point and Matt Barzal were enough to give Canada the victory. Dylan Strome took first shot and couldn’t bury it, but the Swiss couldn’t get ahead when Blackwood stoned them in their first attempt as well.

“We didn’t expect the Swiss to have the puck and be so fast, I think we kind of caught up to their speed midway through the second period and then we started to pick it up”. The third period remained scoreless and a shootout was required to determine a victor.

Sweden (2-0-0-0) leads with six points, followed by Canada (1-1-1-0) with five points, US (1-1-0-0) and Denmark (1-1-0-0) with three and Switzerland (0-2-0-1) with one.

Blackwood, who made 23 saves in his world junior debut, sat out Canada’s first two games as he completed an eight-game suspension from the Ontario Hockey League. van Pottelberghe stopped 32 Canadian shots. The Swiss couldn’t take shots on net and the Canadians couldn’t create any plays. They got chances on their first power play but Joren van Pottelberghe was great. Puck drop in that contest is set for 1:00 p.m. EST.