GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, 29 December 2004 — The United States matched Switzerland’s four-goal outburst in the third period for a 6-4 victory Monday night in the preliminary round of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Canada, a favorite to win the tournament, routed Sweden 8-1 to improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Sweden dropped to 1-1.
In Monday’s games played at Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Slovakia defeated Finland 2-0, and Russia defeated the Czech Republic 4-1. All four teams have 1-1 records.
The United States led 2-0 entering the third period after goals by Ryan Callahan and Kevin Porter, but Switzerland tied it with two quick scores. Drew Stafford’s goal put the United States back in the lead, and Tim Hensick, Robbie Schremp and Patrick O’Sullivan added scores to secure the win.
“Give them credit, they came out and battled in the third period,” said U.S. goalie Al Montoya, who stopped 31 shots. “They broke out, but we were lucky enough to come away with a win.”
The United States, the tournament’s defending champion, improved to 2-0. Switzerland fell to 1-1. Sidney Crosby had two goals and Ryan Getzlaf a goal and two assists in Canada’s victory over Sweden.
Sweden’s Christopher Heino-Lindberg stopped 15 of 16 shots in the first period, but Canada scored four goals in less than 15 minutes of the second.
Andrej Meszaros’ empty-net goal with less than a minute remaining sealed Slovakia’s 2-0 defeat of Finland.
Earlier, Russia took a 3-0 lead on goals by Alexander Radoulov, Sergei Shirokov and Evgeni Malkin and held on to defeat the Czech Republic.
