World Junior 2015: Sorensen and Danes shine in first WJC win; Day 5’s 3 Stars

Buzzing The Net's Three Stars from Day 5 of the World Junior Hockey Championship on Tuesday:

No. 1 star: Georg Sorensen, Denmark

While Nikolai Ehlers and Oliver Bjorkstrand will get the glory for scoring in the shootout Tuesday, it was netminder Sorensen who got them there and who ultimately sealed the win with a stop on Switzerland’s Noah Rod in the third round of the breakaway relay. The dashing Danes won 4-3 in the shootout to give them a historic victory.

The win is Denmark’s first in the top division of the world juniors, in its second tour of duty in the tournament. They were winless in the 2012 edition.

Sorensen, who started for the Danes in their D1A win last year, stopped 42 shots in the win, including 14 in a busy third period.

The win moves Denmark into third place in Group B and really makes things messy. Sweden has already guaranteed first place in the group, but the rest of the teams are very much alive.

Denmark is finished in round robin play, which concludes Wednesday. The Danes finished the round robin with a 0-1-2-1 record.

No. 2 star: Martin Reway, Slovakia

Reway scored a hat-trick, sealing the deal with an empty netter, to give Slovakia a 5-2 win over Germany at the Bell Centre, where he could end up playing in a year or two.

Reway may not be from Montreal, but he sure enjoyed the home-cooking in the city whose team holds his rights Tuesday.

He’s already suited up for exhibitions with the Habs at the Bell Centre, giving him an advantage over other players in the tourney, but it hasn’t helped him all that much in round robin play. The three goals were his first three, and they give him five points. The Slovak captain had 10 points in five games last year.

Slovakia is the other team finished with round robin play. The other eight teams will play Wednesday. Slovakia sits in third place in Group A, behind Canada and the United States. They finished with a 2-0-0-2 record.

No. 3 star: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Denmark

Bjorkstrand scored twice, once in regulation and added what was ultimately the winner in the shootout for the Danes to get their first win in tournament history.

He leads Denmark in scoring with five points in four games, including four goals. Interestingly, shootout winning goals count as goals in players’ statistics. His four goals are enough to lead the tournament in goal scoring.

The Danes will find out Wednesday if they play on, depending on the results of the last day of round robin play.

Honourable mentions: Frederik Tiffels scored both goals for the Germans in their loss against Slovakia. They are the only goals Germany has scored in the tournament so far. They fell to 0-0-0-3. … Denis Godla performed well again for Slovakia, making 27 saves in the win. … Timo Meier (1G, 1A, shootout goal) and Denis Malgin (2A) each had a pair of points in Switzerland’s loss to Denmark. Mikkel Aagaard (1G, 1A) had a pair of points of his own for the victorious Danes.