In my opinion a tournament doesn’t officially start until there is an upset. Well, on Wednesday, we had our first mild upset of the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton and Calgary.
Wednesday afternoon at Edmonton’s Rexall Place, Finland scored three third period goals en route to a 4-1 victory. It was a key game for Joel Armia, who was -3 against Canada. Armia, a first round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres, had two goals and an assist with a +3 rating. So you could say it’s an interesting way to get an even rating over the first two games of a tournament.
Mikael Granlund and Miikka Salomaki also scored for Finland, who played much better defensively with Sami Aittokallio in between the pipes.
Sticking with the goaltending theme, the American decision to dress John Gibson over Jack Campbell was an interesting one. Gibson looked shaky and took a dumb third penalty that gave Finland significant momentum. Do not be surprised if Campbell plays the rest of the tournament for the Stars and Stripes.
Finland improves to 1-1, while the United States fall to 1-1 in Group B play.
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