Filip Mesar and the Slovaks are still having fun for

Filip Mesar and the Slovaks are still having fun… for now

Montreal Canadiens hopeful forward Filip Mesar and his Slovakian compatriots celebrated their third victory in as many games at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships on Friday in Gothenburg, defeating Norway 8-4.

This puts the winner at the top of Group B after also defeating the Czechs and the Swiss. But their biggest test will come on Saturday when they take on the tough Americans, who rely on fullback Lane Hutson, another Habs hockey player.

• Also read: Canada's first real test

• Also read: A convincing win for the Americans, with the exception of Hutson and Fowler

When he returned to Mesar, he finished his workday with three assists. Among other things, he prepared Dalibor Dvorsky's two goals and one of Servac Petrovsky's two goals. In total they collected four points each.

Slovakia led 7-1 after 40 minutes and also received contributions from Maxim Strbak (three assists) and Peter Repcik (one goal and one assist). Goalkeeper Adam Gajan faced 26 shots. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard stood out as a loser with a double and a total of three points. Also from unfortunate circumstances, talented defender Stian Solberg scored his country's second goal by taking advantage of a two-on-one run.

A first victory for Finland

Later in the day, Finland earned its first win of the tournament by defeating Latvia 4-0.

It was the third game between the two teams, who had an identical record of 0-0-0-2 before today's duel. The Latvians are the only ones who have not yet experienced the joy of victory in Group A.

Finland captain Jere Lassila led the team with one goal and three assists. Jesse Pulkkinen, Kasper Halttunen and Oiva Keskinen were the other scorers.

Before the winning goal, Noa Vali fended off 23 pucks sent his way. At the other end of the ice, Deivs Rolovs was bombarded with 43 shots.