Canada's head coach Benoit Groulx talks to his players during a practice sessionChris Young/The Canadian Press
Each of the four Friday quarter-final matches at the world junior hockey championship contain interesting subplots. There's a meeting between two former Cold War rivals to kick things off (USA vs. Russia), followed by a rematch of last year's gold medal final (Sweden vs. Finland), then a game between two teams that used to be part of one country (Slovakia vs. Czech Republic) and finally, one of those David versus Goliath matchups (Canada vs. Denmark). Here's what else you need to know about tonight's game against the upstart Danes:
Back-and-Forth
Head coach Benoit Groulx continued to alternate his starting goaltenders, with Zach Fucale getting the call for Friday's quarter-final match which might just kick start an extended run for the 19-year-old through the medal round. Both Fucale and Eric Comrie have each won two games apiece for the unbeaten Canadians. Comrie, a Winnipeg Jets' 2013 second-round pick, has a 1.55 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in his two appearances. Fucale, who was drafted in the second round by the Montreal Canadiens, has a 0.50 GAA and .975 save percentage. Fucale has the edge when it comes to experience having played at last year's world juniors where Canada settled for a fourth-place finish. He also won a Memorial Cup title with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013 and earned a gold medal at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament.
Curious Georg
The Danes are likely to go with Georg Sorenson in goal, who has been one busy guy so far. He's faced the most shots of any goaltender, stopping 129 of 142 fired his way. While he was pulled for giving up three goals against Sweden in the first period of his second start, the undrafted 19-year-old was outstanding in a shootout loss to Russia, stopped 44 shots in an overtime loss to the Czech Republic and stopped 42 shots in their historic shootout win over Switzerland. Denmark's 15 goals against is the most among the eight teams that qualified for quarter-finals while Canada's 21 goals scored is the most in the tournament.
Shut Down D-Men
Entering the quarter-finals, Canada has surrendered a total of four goals – the fewest among the teams qualified for the medal round. While much of the credit goes to goaltenders Zach Fucale and Eric Comrie, the defensive pair of Darnell Nurse and Shea Theodore have also been very successful in shutting down the opposition's top lines. Nurse, an Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick, and Theodore limited Team USA's first line led by highly touted draft pick Jack Eichel to just one point on New Years Eve. Look for them to pay special attention to Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand, who leads Denmark with four goals and an assist. Fucale is familiar with Denmark's other leading scorer Nikolaj Ehlers, who has a goal and three assists in four games. The two were teammates on the Mooseheads this year until Halifax traded Fucale to Quebec prior to the start of the tournament.
No History
This is only the third ever meeting between Canada and Denmark at the world junior level. In each of the previous two matches, Canada emerged the victor, 4-1 in 2008 in the Czech Republic and 10-2 in 2012 in Edmonton. At each of those tournaments, Canada emerged with a medal – gold in 2008 and bronze in 2012. The only other meeting of note between these two countries on ice happened at the 1949 world championship where Canada won handily 47-0. While Canada has won 15 gold medals at the world junior hockey championship, Denmark has played a grand total of 16 games in the tournament's history.
What's Next
Should Canada get past Denmark, they would face the winner of the Slovakia-Czech Republic in the semi-finals, to be played Sunday night in Toronto.