The 2017 IIHF World Championship kicked off in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany this week, with Antoine Roussel skating for host France, John Klingberg for Sweden, and Julius Honka for Finland.
Stars prospect Valeri Nichushkin also made the trip with Russia, but has yet to be added to the official roster or see the ice.
Roussel stole the show among the Stars’ representatives in the first three days of action, scoring twice in France’s 5-1 win over Finland Sunday.
He first tallied in the second period to snap a 1-1 tie, cleaning up a rebound in the crease to score what would prove to be the game-winner.
Antoin Roussel – 1:2 pic.twitter.com/v5RROMpIup
— Andreas Wirnitzer (@AWirnitzer) May 7, 2017
His second goal came in the third, when he collected the puck on a breakaway and slid home a five-hole goal that made it 4-1.
Antione Roussel – 1:4 pic.twitter.com/k9r5xzftou
— Andreas Wirnitzer (@AWirnitzer) May 7, 2017
Roussel also collected 14 penalty minutes in the contest, sitting for a 10-minute unsportsmanlike and minors for interference and roughing in 16:56 of ice time.
Saturday, he was held pointless in 19:48 of ice time in France’s 3-2 loss to Norway.
Honka hasn’t found the scoresheet in two games for Finland, but saw his ice time ramped up significantly after skating just 9:59 in the team’s 3-2 win over Belarus in its tournament opener. He played 19:38 Sunday.
Klingberg is also pointless through two games as part of a deep Swedish defensive unit. He skated over 18 minutes in both Sweden’s 2-1 loss to Russia and its 7-2 win over Germany.
Klingberg and Sweden will take on the United States at 1:15 p.m. CT Monday in Cologne. The game will be broadcast live on the NHL Network and will be replayed at approximately 11 p.m. on NBCSN.
Honka will next hit the ice when Finland takes on the Czech Republic Monday, while Roussel and host France will match up with Switzerland Tuesday.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.