Finns refuse to go away, knock off Swedes in stirring comeback

Broberg, who gutted it out to play 24 minutes, offered, “No comment,” when asked on a conference call what body part was sore. But his coach, Ronnmark, said he played “through some pain. Our doctor would have to answer those questions. He really wanted to play every game and he battled hard.”

This ‘n’ that: Winnipeg Jets’ 2019 first-round defenceman Ville Heinola, who will likely be playing for the Manitoba Moose this season, played 28 of the 60 minutes on the Finnish blue line … German centre Florian Elias, who scored their lone goal Sturday, had an under-the-radar nine points playing with Stutzle and J.J. Peterka. He’s only 170 pounds and not a blazing skater but he’s a hound dog on pucks. He wasn’t drafted through seven rounds in October, maybe because he hasn’t been playing in the DEL against men like Stutzle, Peterka and Lucas Reichel, a Chicago first-rounder who contracted COVID before the tournament and couldn’t play. Elias will be playing for Mannheim now, and won’t get through the 2021 draft … The Russians didn’t have two of their better forwards, Columbus first-rounder Yegor Chinakov (leg) or Ottawa’s Vitali Abramov, who was suspended for a slewfoot on Swede Arvid Costmar in their last group play game … Strange that Ottawa, after grabbing Stutzle, took Finnish winger Roby Jarventie with their first pick in Round 2, leaving Peterka to Buffalo one pick later. Jarventie played three minutes against the Swedes, and 16 seconds over the final 40 … Having a 10 a.m. MT start for the game was strange stuff. “Totally different, for sure. I was up at 7 a.m., had a quick shower, went down for breakfast, had a short meeting and got to the rink two hours before the game,” said Stutzle. He took a night flight to Ottawa to get to their training camp, which started Dec. 31. But he’ll have to quarantine for a week even with being in the world juniors bubble here … The Germans had Jakub Borzecki’s No. 20 hanging behind the team bench because he was stuck in his hotel room under quarantine due to COVID.

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