Three Calgary Flames players have advanced to the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship in Latvia, while two others are packing up.
Andrew Mangiapane (Canada), Connor Mackey (United States) and Nikita Nesterov (Russia) are headed to the quarters, while Emilio Pettersen (Norway) and Ilya Solovyov (Belarus) have failed to advance. (Luckily, there’s no relegation involved in this year’s tournament.)
Here’s how the Flames players fared in the round robin:
- Nikita Nesterov (Russia) had two goals and four points in four games
- Connor Mackey (United States) had zero points in four games
- Andrew Mangiapane (Canada) had four goals and eight points in four games
- Emilio Pettersen (Norway) had one goal in six games
- Ilya Solovyov (Belarus) had zero points in four games
Mangiapane was easily the story of the tournament from a Flames perspective. Canada was winless without him and looked poised to miss the medal round, but Mangiapane sparked Canada’s top line (alongside Adam Henrique and Connor Brown) and Canada won three games (and lost in a shootout in the other) in their final four games to force their way into the quarterfinals.
Mangiapane is top 10 in tournament scoring despite missing half the tournament due to travel quarantine requirements.
The quarterfinals go Thursday on TSN:
- 7:15 a.m. MT: Switzerland vs. Germany and United States vs. Slovakia
- 11:15 a.m. MT: Canada vs. Russia and Finland vs. Czech Republic
