Canucks’ Truscott gets into a game and creates offensive chances, Jurmo settles in after a tough start: 2022 WJC day one recap

The 2022 World Junior Championships officially began on Tuesday with three games to kick off the tournament.

Czechia vs Slovakia

Czechia controlled a lot of the possession in the first period but was down by two goals after the first period. Servac Petrovsky opened up the scoring just 3:20 into the period. His goal was quickly followed up by Matej Kaslik firing another goal past Czechia goaltender Jan Bednar.

It felt like Czechia was deserving of a goal from their strong control of scoring chances in the early part of the game. Czechia got their first goal 2:22 into the second period with the shot count at 20-6 in their favour. Jakub Kos cut into the lead and brought Czechia within one goal.

2022 sixth overall pick David Jiricek had a shorthanded breakaway with 15 minutes left in the second period but Slovakian goalie Simon Latkoczy was up to the task and maintained Slovakia’s one-goal lead.

Latkoczy continued to play well for Slovakia but late in the second period, Czechia was able to tie the game on their 30th shot of the game. Michal Gut was able to get his stick on a loose puck and score the equalizer.

Czechia continued to dominate offensively and had a two-on-two rush that ended with Matyas Sapovaliv giving his team their first lead of the game. We sat with a 3-2 Czechia lead after 40 minutes of play and they were more than deserving of a lead as they were outshooting Slovakia by a 36-14 count.

Jan Mysak scored at the halfway point of the third period to give Czechia a 4-2 lead and it felt like that insurance goal was going to be enough to get through Slovakia.

Slovakia disagreed as they drew a five-on-three power play and scored with 6:04 remaining in the period. The goal from their captain Rayen Petrovicky cut the lead down to 4-3 and just like that, Slovakia was right back in the game. Czechia took another penalty with just 18 seconds remaining in the five-on-four and we were back with another quick two-man advantage for Slovakia.

Jiricek came out of the box when the two-man advantage ended and the defenceman had his second shorthanded breakaway of the game. He was unable to score on his second attempt and Slovakia went to work on tying up the game in the final few minutes.

Slovakia struck again with another power play goal that sent the game to a game tied up at four goals a piece. Kaslik scored his second goal of the game and that was exactly what Slovakia needed to make it a 4-4 tie.

Just when it felt like we were going to get our first overtime of the tournament, Czechia quickly struck with Gabriel Szturc streaking down the right wing and cutting to the net, where he went to the forehand and gave Czechia a 5-4 lead.

Despite a frantic final attack from the Slovakians, Czechia was able to hold on for a one-goal win.

Latvia vs Finland

Game two of the day was the first time we got to watch one of the Canucks’ prospects in action.

Left-shot defenceman Joni Jurmo got into Finland’s top-four as the left-side defenceman on the second pairing.

It was a rough start to the tournament for Jurmo. His nerves were showing as he made multiple turnovers in his first few shifts and iced the puck with an inaccurate breakout pass. You can see the physical potential in Jurmo’s game but his decision-making and inability to make simple plays continue to hold him back.

Jurmo was basically benched for the period after his first three shifts. He had one short shift in the final 14 minutes of the period and appeared to be replaced by Aleksi Heimosalmi on Finland’s second pairing.

The good news for Finland was that they came out of the first period with a two-goal lead. Joakim Kemell scored both goals in the period and Finland took care of business without Jurmo.

Let’s hope we have more positive things to say about Jurmo as the tournament goes on. He is already on thin ice when it comes to being a player who is in the lineup every game and his first few shifts of the tournament were definitely noticed by Finland’s head coach Antti Pennanen.

The second stanza had a much better start to for Jurmo. He drew a holding penalty early on and Finland capitalized on the power play when Brad Lambert scored to make it 3-0.