There’s only two more days until the gold medal game of the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, with three of the four teams in the semifinals having at least one Panthers prospect among them.
Finland advanced to the semifinals with an 8-5 win over Slovakia. Joonas Donskoi scored Finland’s eighth goal (on the powerplay) finishing the night with five shots and a neutral plus-minus. Finland will face longtime hockey rival Sweden in the semifinals on Tuesday at 5:00 pm EST at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Yaroslav Kosov was scoreless in Russia’s 2-1 overtime defeat of the Czech Republic. Kosov had four shots on goal and finished a plus-one. Russia will have a rematch against Jonathan Huberdeau, Quinton Howden, and the rest of Canada. The last time these two teams met was in the goal medal round a year ago, which Russia won 5-3. The game will start at 8:30 pm EST on Tuesday.
The United States will fight to stay in the top division for next year’s World Juniors, as they face Latvia at 1 PM EST. If Nick Bjugstad, Connor Brickley, and Kyle Rau do lose in the relegation round, the United States will be relegated to Divison I A for the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Russia. With a regulation win over Latvia, the States will advance to the 2013 World Junior Championships.
Click the jump for standings and stats for Florida’s prospects in the tournament.
| Player | Nation | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | Canada | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| Joonas Donskoi | Finland | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Yaroslav Kosov | Russia | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Quinton Howden | Canada | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Kyle Rau | United States | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 4 |
| Nick Bjugstad | United States | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| Connor Brickley | United States | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 |
Relegation round
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| Switzerland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| Denmark | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 1 |
| Latvia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
Note: Wins in regulation are worth three points, overtime wins are two points and over-time losses are worth one point.