U.S., Canada open with victories at world junior hockey championship

Mathis Rousseau made 24 saves, including a spectacular glove stop in the first period, while Owen Allard and Macklin Celebrini both scored as Canada opened the world junior hockey championship with a 5-2 victory over Finland on Tuesday in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Nate Danielson added a goal and an assist before Matthew Poitras and Maveric Lamoureux scored into the empty net as the annual under-20 tournament began with four games in pool play.

Slovakia beat Czechia 6-2, Sweden beat Latvia 6-0 and the United States beat Norway 4-1 in the other games. Gavin Brindley scored twice in a 2:33 span of the second period for the Americans, who got 22 saves from Trey Augustine.

"I thought we got better as the game went on," U.S. coach David Carle said. "And our goaltending was excellent. We have some things to work on, but it's nice to get a win to start the tournament."

Jimmy Snuggerud and Isaac Howard also scored for the United States. Petter Vesterheim scored the lone goal for Norway while Markus Stensrud turned away 40 shots.

Norway held the U.S. scoreless in the first period before Snuggerud sparked a three-goal American run in the second. Vesterheim cut into the lead at 4:18 of the third but Howard restored the threegoal margin just 25 seconds later.

Canada, the two-time defending gold medalist looking for its first three-peat since 2009, has just one returning player from the 2023 event in Halifax.

"Unbelievable," said Rousseau, a native of Boisbriand, Quebec. "Growing up you see world juniors, it's something big.

“And now I'm here. Make a great save for the team and then we won. Makes the moment even more special."

Canada is in Group A with the Finns, Swedes, Latvia and Germany. Group B consists of the U.S., Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Norway.

Thousands of Canadians have descended on this city of roughly 600,000 on Sweden's west coast for the tournament. The stands were filled with red on Boxing Day.

"Incredible seeing the amount of fans," Rousseau said. "Cheering for us on this ice, in this rink. It means a lot."