Representing Team Sweden, Toronto Maple Leafs center Pontus Holmberg added to his tournament tally with a primary assist on Sweden’s fifth goal in their 6-1 win over Team Germany as they improved to 3-0-0-0 in the preliminary round.
Despite playing for the Swedes in the World Junior U-20 Championships (2019) and the Olympics (2022), this is the first time that Holmberg has represented his home country at the Worlds, already putting together an impressive three points in three games played – all primary assists, one of which was shorthanded. Along with his production on offense, Holmberg has netted a +4 rating in his three games of action slotted on the second line centering Marcus Johansson and Andre Burakovsky.
Holmberg and Team Sweden will take to the ice for their fourth preliminary game on Thursday at 10:20am against Team Kazakhstan (1-0-0-1) as they look to continue their dominance scoring five or more goals in each of their first three games.
After previously representing Czechia at the 2014 and 2015 World Juniors, Maple Leafs centerman David Kampf is suiting up for Czechia as his country plays host to the World Hockey Championship. Upon arrival, Kampf contributed two assists in his team’s 6-3 win over Norway on Saturday after the team prevailed in a 1-0 shootout victory over Team Finland on the tournament’s opening day (Friday).
Similarly to how he has been utilized for the Maple Leafs, centerman David Kampf has taken on a prominent role on Team Czechia’s penalty-kill, killing off the team’s penalty with 0:41 seconds remaining in overtime to once again send the game to a shootout on Monday. Kampf and Team Czechia would go on to lose their game over Team Switzerland by a score of 2-1 – pushing their record to 1-1-1-0.
Centering the third line between Daniel Vozenilik and Matej Stransky, Kampf has been productive with two assists in three games and a +2 rating on top of penalty-killing duties.
Kampf and Team Czechia will play out their fourth game of the preliminary round on Wednesday at 10:20am against Team Denmark (1-0-0-1) as they try to maneuver their way back into the win column.
Tavares and Team Canada off
Canada had the day off after opening Group ‘A’ action with a 2-0-0-0 start. Tavares picked up an assist in his first game with the team on Sunday.
Canada takes on Austria on Tuesday.