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Five Nations Day Three: FIN 4 SWE 0; CZE 2 RUS 5

By USA Hockey's NTDP, 02/11/16, 9:45PM EST

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Finland Shuts Out Sweden, 4-0, at Five Nations

PLYMOUTH, Mich. - Lassi Lehtinen stopped all 43 shots he faced as Finland shut out Sweden 4-0 here today at USA Hockey Arena. Finland improves to 2-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) while Sweden drops to 0-0-0-2.

Finland took an early lead in the opening period when Eero Teravainen wired a shot from the point at 1:28. Santeri Virtanen and Saku Vesterinen picked up assists on the play. Lauri Pajuniemi, with help from Aatu Luusuaniemi, doubled Finland’s lead at 7:11 to end the period 2-0.

During the second stanza, the Finns again struck at 8:10 to extend their advantage to three tallies. Joni Ikonen found the back of the net with helpers from Linus Nyman and Aleksi Heponiemi for the only score of the frame.

With 3:59 to play in the final period, Nyman sealed the victory with a top-shelf goal from the slot for the 4-0 final score. Vesterinen recorded an assist on the goal.

Swedish goaltender Arvid Soderblom stopped 23-of-26 shots faced before being replaced by Olle Eriksson Ek at 10:59 of the second period. Eriksson Ek turned aside 16 shots in the latter half of the contest.

Sweden next faces the United States tomorrow (Feb. 12) at 7 p.m. ET, while Finland wraps up competition against the Czech Republic at 3:30 p.m. Both games will stream live on FASTHockey.com.

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Bitsadze Scores Twice as Russia Downs Czech Republic, 5-2

PLYMOUTH, Mich.Mikhail Bitsadze scored twice as Russia downed the Czech Republic, 5-2, here tonight at USA Hockey Arena. The contest capped the third day of competition at the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament. Russia improved to 2-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in the event, while the Czech Republic dropped to 0-1-0-1.

The Czech Republic took an early lead in the opening period when Jan Kern rocketed a shot from the point just 52 seconds into the frame. Matyas Svoboda recorded an assist on the play. Russia answered on the power play at 6:09 when Iaroslav Alekseev tallied a goal with help from Klim Kostin and Vladislav Kazamanov. Bitsadze staked the Russian lead at 14:27 when he notched the go-ahead marker on the Russians’ second power-play opportunity.

During the second stanza, the Czechs Jaroslav Dvorak scored at 12:35 to tie the game, 2-2. Filip Chytil and Jakub Wojnar picked up helpers on the play. The back-and-forth action continued as Russia again answered in the closing seconds with a goal by Pavel Demin to take back the lead, 3-2. Ivan Murano and Nikolai Kovalenko assisted on the score.

Russia added two markers in the final frame to seize control of the game and claim the victory. First, Aleksander Alexeev scored at 8:25 with Muranov awarded the assist. Then at 11:44, Bitsadze scored his second power-play goal with assists from Veniamin Baranov and Dmitri Samorukov

Russian goaltender Maxim Zhukov stopped 21-of-23 shots he faced in the win, while his Finnish counterpart Tomas Vomacka kicked out 25-of-30 attempts in the loss.

The Czech Republic has an immediate turn around as the squad faces Finland tomorrow (Feb. 13) at 3:30 p.m. ET. Russia enjoys a day off before facing the United States in the final game of the 2016 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament. All contests during the event will stream live on FASTHockey.com.