Davos earn semi-final spot in overtime
For quite a while it didn't seem as if Davos would be able to overcome the two-goal deficit against Jokerit Helsinki but 2 goals in the last period and a late overtime goal made put the strongly depleted team of Arno del Curto in tomorrow's knock-out game.
With Team Canada and HC Lugano already set for the semi-final, HC Davos and Jokerit Helsinki were battling for the second spot against Canada. In goal for Davos as youngster Gilles Senn while Riku Helenius was tending the goal on the opposite side.
Davos didn't make the freshest impression in yesterdays game but coach Arno del Curto always finds a way to motivate his team in situations when stakes are high. Davos came out storming, scoring the first goal just 3 minutes into the game by Jerome Portmann assisted by Lukas Sieber, both under 20 years of age. 10 minutes later Todd Daine was given a penalty shot after he had only been able to be stopped by a hooking penalty against Ville Koistinen. Daine curved around the ice and beat Senn in the top right corner for the equalizer.
It was halftime between both teams and Davos was on a power play after Todd Daine took a penalty for holding the opponent and less than a minute into the man advantage Ville Koistinen scored the second goal for Davos with a shot from near the blue line. Juhamatti Aaltonen only needed a minute to get his team back into the game when he took a pass from Jesse Joensuu. Roope Talaja and Peter Regin scored two quick goals at the end of the second period. Gilles Senn didn't look too good on the 4th goal but the young goaltender is still in a learning process and situations like these will only help him for the future.
In the last period it seemed that Davos was out of breath, only a handful of situations were Riku Helenius had to intervene. But Mauro Jörg wasn't willing to leave the home tournament that easy as he scored the 3rd goal with 9 minutes left. All of a sudden Davos was back in the game with a power play opportunity and enough time to score the 4th goal. Although the advantage had passed without a goal, Davos kept on pushing and with 4 minutes left in regulation Samuel Walser stickhandler the puck past Helenius. Ville Koistinen had to take place on the bench for interference just 2 minutes before the end but Davos kept their cool and for the first time in this tournament the fans would experience a 3 on 3 overtime.
And what the teams presented to the spectators was absolutely fantastic, the puck going back and forth with many chances on both sides. After 3 minutes and 40 seconds it was Andres Ambühl entering from the left side who saw his teammate Gregory Sciaroni standing in front of the crease. He passed the puck sideways and Sciaroni only had to deflect the puck into the goal.
With this win, Davos earned themselves a spot in the semi-final against Team Canada after a spectacular comeback.