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MWC 2017: Finland upsets USA, Canada moves on

By Nic Hendrickson

COLOGNE, GERMANY - MAY 18: Team Canada celebrate after victory in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Quarter Final game between Canada and Germany at Lanxess Arena on May 18, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images)
COLOGNE, GERMANY - MAY 18: Team Canada celebrate after victory in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Quarter Final game between Canada and Germany at Lanxess Arena on May 18, 2017 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images) /
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The Men’s World Championship produced some exciting games during the quarterfinals. One upset happened and there were no blowouts.

The MWC 2017 produced an upset today in the quarterfinals, as Finland beat the USA. Finland was the fourth seed coming out of Group B. And with the United States finishing top of Group A, on the back of a six-game winning streak, many favored the Americans to move on to the semifinals.

While this upset isn’t nearly as surprising as the one Germany pulled off against the USA in the first game of the tournament, it is still a very disappointing loss for the Americans. The Finns showed a strong defensive performance, allowing only 26 shots on goal. Finnish goaltender Harri Sateri put in a strong game to keep the 26-save shutout.

In the other early game of the day, Russia faced off against the Czech Republic. Russia finished second in Group A, with its only loss coming in the final group game to the USA (5-3). The Russians had a bounce-back performance and were able to knock the Czechs out of the tournament, winning 3-0 on the day.

The Russians looked sharp and determined in the quarterfinals, and it’s no surprise that they are advancing. Nikita Kucherov continued his hot play at the MWC 2017 with one goal and two assists. The other two goals came from MWC 2017 leading scorer Artemi Panarin and defenseman Dmitri Orlov.

In the first late game of the quarterfinals, Canada took on host nation Germany. Germany has been the surprise story of the MWC 2017, needing a shootout win over Latvia in their final group stage game to advance to the quarterfinals.

While Canada was predicted to walk right over the Germans, the host nation had other plans. Philipp Grubauer continued to show the hockey world why the Washington Capitals think so highly of him with a phenomenal 48-save performance to keep Germany in the game

Despite Grubauer keeping the biscuit out of the Bavarian basket on multiple scoring chances, it wasn’t enough to see the host nation pull off another upset over a North American opponent. The Canadian goals came from Jeff Skinner and Mark Scheifele. And despite a late goal from Yannic Seidenberg, Canada was able to close out the game and advance to the semifinals.

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In the second late game of the MWC 2017 quarterfinals, Switzerland took on Sweden. Sweden put on a strong performance against darkhorse candidate Switzerland and advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 3-1 win on the day.

William Nylander continued his impressive performance at the MWC 2017 with a goal and two assists. Nicklas Backstrom chipped in a goal to help the winning effort, and Alex Edler added another goal to his country’s tally. Henrik Lundqvist continued to show why he is still one of the top goalies in the game with an impressive 26-save win as well.

The MWC 2017 will take a day off tomorrow, and the semifinals will resume on Saturday, May 20th.

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