Canadian Juniors Rebound to Knock Off Swiss

As a result of the shootout loss vs Sweden, Canada had to play Switzerland yesterday in order to see who would advance to today's semifinals. Canada, however, had to overcome a bad start courtesy of backup goaltender Mark Visentin who let in a soft goal by Inti Pestoni of the Swiss to make it 1-0 Switzerland just 1:09 into the game. With that goal and the hot goaltending by Swiss starter Benjamin Conz who stopped 46 Canadian shots, the Canadians looked horrific and it seemed as though their quest for victory was over. However, Canada would solve Conz eventually, scoring their first goal on what the TSN website called "a late first period power-play" from Ryan Johanesen. The score stayed that way until Casey Cizikas scored on a 2-on-1 break in the 2nd period. Casey held the puck and then shot it over-top of the hot Conz for his goal. Watching it on TV made the goal look slow-motion in terms of development. Louis LeBlanc scored again for Canada early on in the 3rd period for an insurance goal. Finally, the previously suspended Zack Kassian, who looked timid all afternoon as a result, scored an empty-net goal to put it away for Canada and make the score a 4-1 final. Canada will now face the U.S. TONIGHT at 7 PM on TSN in their semi-final match. The winner goes for gold in the gold-medal game while the loser will play in the bronze-medal game later on. One final game note: Canada out-shot Switzerland 50-22, a testament to the Canadians offence and resiliency and a lack of offence for the Swiss. Well, that about wraps it up. Tune in tonight for the semi-final match, and I will echo what the Canadian fans were chanting yesterday at the end of the quarter-final match vs Switzerland, "BRING ON THE U.S.A.!" Here is the game recap: Swiss Defeated; Americans Await