USA, Canada to Face in Semifinals of World Juniors
January 02, 2008 | Men's Hockey
After skating with their respective countries for the past few weeks, the University of Wisconsin's Kyle Turris (Canada), Blake Geoffrion (USA) and Jamie McBain (USA) will face off in semifinals action at the 2007 IIHF World Juniors Championship in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Team USA, the winners of Pool B, will face Team Canada on Friday. The game time has not yet been determined.
The unbeaten Americans earned a bye entering the finals round after posting a 5-3 victory over Finland on Monday, Dec. 31. Prior to that matchup, Team USA defeated Russia (3-2), Switzerland (4-2) and Kazakhstan (5-1) in round robin play. Badger center Geoffrion and defenseman McBain each have one assist in the tournament.
Despite a shocking loss to Sweden in the final round of pool play, Canada came back to defeat Finland in quarterfinal action, earning a spot in the semifinals. Finland had two different leads over Canada (1-0 and 2-1), but the Canadians fought hard, earning a 4-2 triumph over the Fins. Turris tallied an assist on Canada's game-winning goal in the third period. The Canadians scored an empty-netter with just 38 seconds remaining in regulation to close out the victory.
Turris has four goals and one assist in tournament action thus far.
Friday's semifinal game showcasing USA and last year's champion, Team Canada, will be shown live on the NHL Network. Semifinal game number one will be shown at 9 a.m. CST, while semifinal game number two will begin at 1 p.m. CST. The teams skating in both semifinal games have not yet been decided.
The NHL Network will also have a live broadcast of all medal-round games on Jan. 5, 2008. The bronze medal game will face off at 9 a.m. CST, with the championship game beginning at 1 p.m. CST that afternoon. Click here for a complete list of NHL Network TV coverage of the World Juniors Championships.
The NHL Network is available in select areas via DirectTV and DishNetwork. Check with your service provider to see if you receive the channel.
