The IIHF kicked off their Ice Hockey World Championships in Sweden on Friday, May 9. There are four Vancouver Canucks representatives taking part for their respective nations: Filip Hronek for Team Czechia, Marcus Pettersson for Team Sweden, and Conor Garland and Drew O’Connor for Team USA.
Let’s dive in and see how each Canuck did in their inaugural games:

Czechia vs. Switzerland

Filip Hronek and the Czechs took on Switzerland in their opening game.
The Swiss opened the scoring early, finding the back of the net just 1:34 minutes into the game. Fast forward to the latter half of the period, where the Czechs were given the chance to equalize the game after being awarded a penalty shot. Christian Marti, who opened the scoring for the Swiss, took the infraction.
The Czechs failed to score on the attempt. The Swiss goaltender Leondaro Genoni gave his teammates life, as Damien Riat doubled the Swiss lead just 32 seconds later. New Jersey Devils defenceman Joonas Siegenthaler assisted on the goal. After a pair of Swiss penalties, the Czechs got on the board on the 5-on-3, with Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak assisting on the goal.
In the second period, former Detroit Red Wings first-round pick Filip Zadina grabbed a goal and an assist to give the Czechs a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
The Swiss came back in the third period, scoring just over a minute into the final frame, and took the lead before the halfway mark.
But this is where Hronek made his impact.
After a Swiss penalty with under five minutes remaining to give the Czechs a power play, Hronek makes a quick feed down low to Roman Cervenka, who finds Lukas Sedlak at the front of the net to tie the game.
And just 2:30 into the extra frame, Cervenka found the back of the net to secure the comeback and a Czechia 5-4 overtime win.

Sweden vs. Slovakia

Marcus Pettersson and the Swedes faced off against Slovakia in their opening game.
Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund opened the scoring. Former Canuck, Elias Lindholm, wins the race for the puck before it exits the zone. This sprung Montreal Canadiens forward Emil Heineman and Backlund on a two-on-one, where Backlund makes no mistake finishing the cross-crease feed.
Unlike Hronek, Pettersson became a factor early in this game.
Pettersson had his slapshot from the point tipped on net by a fellow Swede that nearly tricked the Slovakian netminder:
And shortly after that, Pettersson pinched up in the zone and was in perfect position to send a pass across to Anaheim Ducks centreman Leo Carlsson, who rips a one-timer past Patrik Rybar:
The Swedes would add another goal with three seconds to go in the opening frame to hold a 3-0 lead after the first period.
Lindholm would score Sweden’s fourth goal, while Pettersson picked up his second assist on a late Mika Zibanejad goal to solidify the 5-0 victory over Slovakia.

USA vs. Denmark

Conor Garland, Drew O’Connor and the Americans rounded out the opening day against Denmark.
This game had the slowest start of the three, with the Americans finally breaking the scoreless tie off Anaheim Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier’s stick.
The Danes took an early second period penalty, which sent the Americans to the power play. In typical Conor Garland fashion, he was in the mix around the chaos for the loose puck in front of the net.
Garland digs the puck from the scrum, but can’t corral it to maintain possession. In doing so, the puck finds its way to the side of the net, where Utah Mammoth centreman Logan Cooley pokes it toward the net and deflects off Frederik Dichow to give the Americans a 2-0 lead.
USA wouldn’t look back, adding three more goals to their tally throughout the final two periods to match Sweden’s 5-0 victory.
O’Connor would be held pointless, but did pick up a plus-1 rating for the game.
Here are the stats for each Canucks skaters after their first game:
Pettersson and the Swedes are set to take on Austria on Saturday at 7:20 am PST, while Hronek, Garland and O’Connor will have to wait until Sunday to return to game action. Garland, O’Connor and the Americans take on Hungary at 3:20 am PST, while Hronek and the Czechs play Norway at 11:20 am PST.
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