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The 2010 World Junior A Challenge was an international Junior "A" ice hockey tournament hosted by Hockey Canada. The 2010 World Junior A Challenge was hosted by the Canadian City of Penticton, British Columbia from November 8 to November 14, 2010 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Teams
The two host Canadian teams returned, along with Russia, Sweden, and United States. Replacing Belarus at this event was Switzerland, attending for the first time in the tournament's five year history.
Summary
Exhibition
In early exhibition action, Canada East avenged years of frustration against their nemesis Canada West with a 7-2 victory. The next day, the victory did not translate into anything for Canada East as they fell apart late against Russia in a 7-4 loss. Canada West finished off the exhibition series winless, dropping their next-day game 5-3 to the 2-time defending champion United States.
Round Robin
Like many years, the round robin was as unpredictable as ever. Upstart Switzerland went perfect in the round robin, defeating Canada West 5-4 in overtime and cruising to a 5-1 win over Russia. The United States was also perfect, crushing Canada East 6-1 and Sweden 5-1. Canada West was not far behind Switzerland in the Pool B standings, following up their overtime loss with a 4-2 victory over Russia. Canada East got over their Pool A crushing to the United States by beating Sweden 6-2. Both Sweden and Russia went winless in the round robin to round out the two pools.
Quarter-final
The quarter-finals were hope for some, while heartbreak for others. Despite badly outshooting their opponents in both games, Russia and Sweden were both relegated to the 5th Place Match on Friday. Canada East defeated Russia 4-3, while Canada West defeated Sweden 3-2. While both Canada teams now move on to the semi-finals, Russia and Sweden will battle for pride and 5th place.
5th Place and Semi-final
In the 5th Place Game, Sweden, who had never won a game at the 2009 or 2010 WJAC to date was facing the 2009 Bronze Medallist Russia. Sweden took control early and took a 4-1 lead into the third period, where they held off a late Russian surge to win the game 5-4.
In Semi-final #1, undefeated Switzerland was up against Canada East. The game started off ugly, when Switzerland scored on their own net on a delayed penalty to give Canada East a 1-0 lead. Canada East was neck-to-neck with Switzerland, but took a 3-1 lead into the third. Switzerland turned on their jets and outshot Canada East 18-4 in the third, but Canada East still came out with the 4-2 victory. Switzerland moved on to the Bronze Medal Game, while Canada East goes to their first Gold Medal Game since the 2007 World Junior A Challenge.
In Semi-final #2, the undefeated United States played Canada West. For the past two years, these two teams have faced each other in the Gold Medal Game, but this time a berth to the finals is on the line. The USA dominated early and often, winning 5-1 and outshooting Canada West 36-28. The victory puts the United States in line for a potential record third straight Gold Medal at the event, while with the loss Canada West is in line for its worst placing at the event since its inception.
Bronze and Gold
In the Bronze Medal Game, Switzerland came out with their guns blazing and crushed Canada West 8-3 to win a medal in their first ever World Junior A Challenge. Badly outshooting Canada West 44-16, Switzerland has deprived Canada West of a medal for the first time since the tournament began in 2006.
Win or lose, Canada East's fortunes rested on the play of goaltender Jordan Ruby. Ruby's goaltending was phenomenal in the quarter- and semi-final of the tournament stopping 74 of 79 shots. The two-time defending United States had steamrolled all competition in their three tournament games, outscoring their opponents 16-3. From the start of the game it became clear that most of the game was going to end up in the Canada East zone. Winning 2-1 after the first period despite being outshot 14-10, things were looking up for Canada East. Canada East chased USA's Zane Gothberg from the net with two quick goals to build a 4-1 lead, but this seemed not to demoralize the Americans but fire them up. From that point on Jordan Ruby would face roughly 28 shots in the next 33 minutes of play. The play rarely left the Canadian's zone and eventually the Americans climbed back into the game. The Canadians could not must much offence in this time frame, only managing 10 more shots in the final 35 minutes of play. Austin Czarnik would tie the game 4-4 with 4:33 to go and with 3:53 to go Jimmy Mullin scored the winner. The US would score an empty net goal with a minute to go to finish the game and clinch their third straight championship.
Exhibition schedule
|
|
| Exhibition Results
|
| Game |
Team |
Score |
Team |
Score |
Notes |
Date – Time – Location
|
| Ex1
|
Canada West
|
2
|
Canada East
|
7
|
Final - Shots: 25-22 CANE
|
Nov 5, 2010 - 19:00 PST - Vernon, BC
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| Ex2
|
Canada West
|
3
|
United States
|
5
|
Final - Shots: 43-29 USA
|
Nov 6, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| Ex3
|
Canada East
|
4
|
Russia
|
7
|
Final - Shots: 33-30 CANE
|
Nov 6, 2010 - 19:00 PST - West Kelowna, BC
|
|
2010 Tournament
Group A
Group B
Results
|
|
| Round Robin Results
|
| Game |
Pool |
Team |
Score |
Team |
Score |
Notes |
Date – Time – Location
|
| 1
|
A
|
Canada East
|
1
|
United States
|
6
|
Final - Shots: 37-24 USA
|
Nov 8, 2010 - 16:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 2
|
B
|
Canada West
|
4
|
Switzerland
|
5
|
OT Final - Shots: 31-28 SUI
|
Nov 8, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 3
|
A
|
Sweden
|
2
|
Canada East
|
6
|
Final - Shots: 36-27 SWE
|
Nov 9, 2010 - 16:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 4
|
B
|
Switzerland
|
5
|
Russia
|
1
|
Final - Shots: 52-39 SUI
|
Nov 9, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 5
|
A
|
United States
|
5
|
Sweden
|
1
|
Final - Shots: 33-30 SWE
|
Nov 10, 2010 - 16:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 6
|
B
|
Russia
|
2
|
Canada West
|
4
|
Final - Shots: 53-30 CANW
|
Nov 10, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
|
Championship Round
|
|
| Championship Results
|
| Game |
Round |
Team |
Score |
Team |
Score |
Notes |
Date – Time – Location
|
| 7
|
Quarter
|
Russia
|
3
|
Canada East
|
4
|
Final - Shots: 38-30 RUS
|
Nov 11, 2010 - 16:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 8
|
Quarter
|
Sweden
|
2
|
Canada West
|
3
|
Final - Shots: 33-22 SWE
|
Nov 11, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 9
|
5th Plc.
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Sweden
|
5
|
Russia
|
4
|
Final - Shots: 29-28 SWE
|
Nov 12, 2010 - 19:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 10
|
Semi
|
Canada East
|
4
|
Switzerland
|
2
|
Final - Shots: 41-29 SUI
|
Nov 13, 2010 - 14:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 11
|
Semi
|
Canada West
|
1
|
United States
|
5
|
Final - Shots: 36-28 USA
|
Nov 13, 2010 - 18:00 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 12
|
Bronze
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Switzerland
|
8
|
Canada West
|
3
|
Final - Shots: 44-16 SUI
|
Nov 14, 2010 - 13:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
| 13
|
Gold
|
Canada East
|
4
|
United States
|
6
|
Final - Shots: 43-22 USA
|
Nov 14, 2010 - 17:30 PST - Penticton, BC
|
|
Final standings
External links
United States
Canada East
Switzerland
Sweden
Russia