Sunday, December 26, 2010
Switzerland Skates Past Germany 4-3 + BONUS VIDEO
Sweden Steamrolls past Norway, 7-1
Canada Defeats Russia 6-3 - BONUS VIDEO
USA Defeats Finland 3-2 in OT - BONUS VIDEO

Monday, December 27, 2010
Czech Republic holds off Norway, 2-1
Slovakia beats Germany 2-1 in OT + BONUS VIDEO

Buffalo - Finland shutout Switzerland 4-0 in the preliminary round of the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship at HSBC Arena in Buffalo Tuesday afternoon.

The Finns poured on the offensive pressure in the first period outshooting the Suiss 17-5 and it finally paid off with 19 seconds left on the clock as Toni Rajala fired a shot from the point and Joonas Nattinen tipped it past Benjamin Conz for the 1-0 lead heading into intermission.

Early in the second stanza, Jaakko Turtiainen picked up a loose puck in the slot to make it 2-0. Finland would continue to maintain puck possession and smother whatever offense Switzerland was able to generate from the perimeter by blocking shots with solid team defense.

Less than five minutes into the third period, Erik Haula sends a cross ice pass to Teemu Pulkkinen who unleashed a one-timer past Conz for the 3-0 lead. Just over three minutes later, Julius Junttila would drive hard to the net and flip one in top shelf for the 4-0 final.

Conz made 34 saves against Finland, while Joni Ortio only faced 15 shots on goal for the shutout.

Finland plays Germany Wednesday, December 29th at 2:30pm ET and Switzerland will play Slovakia on Thursday, December 30th at 3pm ET.

-- Julie Robenhymer

Follow @JulieRobenhymer on twitter for live updates from Buffalo.


Erik Haula - Finland


Nino Niederreiter - Switzerland

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