Canada Wins 2008 WORLD JUNIOR FINALS

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The Final games were played at the CEZ Arena in Pardubice, Czech Republic today. Canada won their fourth straight U-20 Men's World Junior Ice Hockey Championship. Not much of a surprise to the many Canadian fans that made the journey to cheer for their team. The surprise in this tournament was Team USA ending up in fourth place after going undefeated until the Semi Final round.

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Russia beat USA 4-2 to win the Bronze Medal. Apparently the American Juniors' play was a little flat compared to earlier games, including the preliminary game in which they had defeated Russia. Nikita Filatov scored the game winning third Russian goal in the first period, assisted by Alexei Cherapanov. Jeremy Smith was then replaced in net by Joe Palmer. USA scored their second goal with a little over six minutes left in the game. But, penalties kept them from getting a chance to tie it up before running out of time.

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To win the Gold, Canada had to defeat Team Sweden. Sweden had previously beaten Canada in their third game of the tournament. They knew it was going to be a tough close game. And it was. Canada scored the first goal just over a minute into the first period, and got their second at the end of the first. But, Sweden eventually scored in the third. Sweden's second came with just 38 seconds left in regulation, sending the game into overtime. At 3:36 into OT, Wayne Simmonds got the game winner, and the hard fought game was over. Canada won 3-2.

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Of course, most of the awards went to Canadian players. Canada's goaltender Steve Mason won Best Goalkeeper and the tournament's MVP award. The 2009 Men's World Junior Championship games will be played in Ottawa, Canada.

2008 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

The Men's Elite U-20 Quarter Finals were played Wednesday Jan. 2, 2008 in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Canada beat Finland 4-2 to advance to play in the Semi Finals against undefeated Junior Ice Hockey Team USA. Brad Marchand scored the game winning goal and Steve Mason was the goaltender for Canada in their victory over Finland. Meanwhile, Team Russia out did the Czech Republic 4-1. Russia's Viktor Tikhonov got the game winner for Russia, and their winning goalie was Sergei Bobrovsky with 12 saves on a mere 13 shots. Washington Capitals' goaltending prospect Michal Neuvirth picked up the loss in this game, but tended net in Czech Republic's 5-1 win over Finland the next day to take Fifth Place. Russia would go on to face undefeated Sweden in a Semi Final game.

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It took Overtime for Sweden to get the Semi Final win against Russia on Friday Jan. 4, 2008. Russia had the only goal through the first two periods. Mikael Backlund put in the game winner at 66:18. It had been a pretty defensive game, with few shots on goal. And so Russia would face the loser of the other Semi Final in a quest for the Bronze Medal.

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USA and Canada went scoreless in their first period, just as the other Semi Finalists had. Canada would get the scoring going in the second period. Shawn Matthias got the first goal early in the middle period. Then, Capitals' prospect Karl Alzner put the puck past USA's goaltender Jeremy Smith for what turned out to be the game winner. Canada went on to win with some great defensive play and game MVP netminding by Steve Mason. Final score was USA 1 - Canada 4.

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Tomorrow's games will also be played at the CEZ Arena in Pardubice, Czech Republic. USA will play against Russia for third place Bronze. The Gold Medal game will be a rematch of Canada vs Sweden. A win by Canada tomorrow would earn them their fourth straight Gold Medal in the U-20 Championship.

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2008 World Junior Quarter & Semi Finals Schedule

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The Preliminary Round is over for the U-20 Pool A teams. Now the Quarter and Semi Final Rounds are about to be played. Team Sweden of Group A has won all four of it's games so far, sending them to the Semi Finals. Team USA of Group B has also won all four of their games, putting them into the Semi Finals as well. The Quarter Final game between Group B's Russia (3W, 1L) and the Czech Republic (2W, 2L) of Group A will decide who plays Sweden, while USA will face the winner of Group A's Canada (3W, 1L) vs Group B's Finland (1W, 1OTW, 2L). Both Quarter Final games will be played at the Cez Arena in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Wednesday Jan. 2, 2008.

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The teams that didn't do as well in the Preliminary Round will have to play in the Relegation games at Tipsport Arena in Liberec, Czech Republic on Wednesday Jan. 2 and Thursday Jan. 3, 2008. Yes, Relegation can be as bad as it sounds, as the teams with the worst records drop down from Pool A to the lesser Division I for the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship games. The worst teams of the lesser Divisions also drop one level. Of course, the teams who have won the Finals of the Divisions I, II and III this year, move up one level for next year. .

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2008 World Junior Championship

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The 2008 World Junior Championship got under way for the Elite group U-20's in the Czech Republic today with the preliminary round. Team USA opened with a 5-1 win over Kazakhstan. Both Kyle Okposo and James Van Riemsdyk each had a goal and an assist. Later on, defending champs Team Canada shut out the Czech Republic 3-0 in front of a sell out crowd at the arena in Pardubice. Canada started off by getting into penalty trouble. Eventually, they straightened up and got two goals from John Tavares and another from Matthew Halischuck. The Washington Capitals' goaltending prospect Michal Neuvirth of the Czech Republic lost with a respectable .900 save percentage. Capitals' prospect Josh Godfrey playing for Canada, had one assist in the game. Meanwhile Russia clobbered Finland 7-4.