Prospects News & Rumors: WJC Semifinals Matchups Set

The quarterfinals of the 2021 World Junior Championship weren’t short on entertainment as Canada, Russia, Finland and the USA booked their spots in the semifinals. The first game of the day saw perennial powerhouse Russia take on everyone’s second favorite team Germany in what was a closer match than many thought it would be. Hurricanes prospect Vasiliy Ponomarev opened the scoring with a beautiful shorthanded effort in the first period. Danil Bashkirov would grab Russia’s second goal of the game midway through the second period. Germany surprised everyone by grabbing an early third-period goal through undrafted forward Florian Elias, who grabbed his fourth goal and ninth point of the tournament. In fact, Germany’s top line of Tim Stuetzle, John-Jason Peterka and Elias combined for 29 of Germany’s 38 points in the tournament.