Switzerland, Latvia advance; Germany, Denmark eliminated at world junior championship
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kimi Koerbler scored two goals and Switzerland beat Germany 4-0 on Tuesday in Grand Casino Arena at the world junior championship.
Switzerland (1-0-0-2) clinches a spot in the quarterfinals by eliminating Germany, which was outscored 22-5 in losing all four matches in Group A. The Swiss play Slovakia on Wednesday to close out the preliminary round. The Germans will play winless Denmark in the relegation round.
Koerbler used assists from Gian Meier and Niklas Blessing to score for the first time in the tournament, giving Switzerland a 1-0 lead at 11:42 in the first period. Leon Muggli and Lars Steiner set up Jamiro Reber’s first goal less than 90 seconds later — on a power play — for a two-goal advantage.
Koerbler scored unassisted 68 seconds into the second period and Ludvig Johnson netted his first goal five minutes later for a 4-0 lead.
Switzerland peppered goalie Lennart Neisse with 47 shots, while Germany managed only 20 shots against Elijah Neuenschwander.
In Group B at 3M Arena at Mariucci, Krisjanis Sarts scored late in the first period and Alberts Smits scored twice on power plays in the second to help Latvia beat Denmark 6-3 and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.
Latvia (1-0-1-1) closes out Group B play against Czechia on Wednesday.
Antons Macijevskis, Bruno Osmanis — on a power play — and Kristers Ansons added goals for Latvia. Osmanis and Olivers Murnieks both had two assists and Ansons and Smits collected one.
Oliver Larsen had a goal for Denmark (0-0-0-4) and assisted on a score by William Bundgaard. Anton Linde scored with 1:18 remaining. Denmark was outscored 28-8 in four prelim matches.