The 2012 World Hockey Championships being held in Finland and Sweden has now reached the quarterfinal stage, with the group round complete. Both members of the Buffalo Sabres playing in the competition are still in it; while Jhonas Enroth has been riding the Swedish pine, Andrej Sekera has been proving his worth on the Slovak squad.
Sekera has been impressive so far, with his seven points from seven games tied for the team lead in scoring. He has 2G & 5A with one game-winner on 9 SOGs, and is +5. Aside from the 6 PIM, he has been averaging 18:48 a game, only surpassed by team captain Zdeno Chara.
Enroth seems to be in the Swedish team doghouse right now, having only played two games early on in the competition. Despite the shellacking the other goalie Peter Fasth received in the 7-3 loss against Russia, he has bounced back admirably with two shutouts. Enroth has a .868 SV% with 2.5 GAA, while Fasth has .910 SV% and 2.00 GAA.
More on the rest of the tournament after the jump.
The Canadians finished in first place in the Helsinki-based group and will take on Slovakia in the quarterfinals. In the other game, USA will play against hosts Finland in the other game to determine the final four. During the group phase Canada had beaten Slovakia 3-2 and USA hammered the Finns 5-0.
| Group Helsinki | |||||||||
| Rank | Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | CAN | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 15 | 19 |
| 2 | USA | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 17 | 16 |
| 3 | FIN | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 14 | 15 |
| 4 | SVK | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 13 | 15 |
| 5 | FRA | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 32 | 9 |
| 6 | SUI | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 6 |
| 7 | BLR | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 23 | 3 |
| 8 | KAZ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 33 | 1 |
In the Stockholm group, Russia has been dominant with a 100% record so far. They will take on the surprise outfit Norway, while the other co-hosts Sweden play the Czech Republic. During the round-robin stage, Russia had beaten Norway 4-2 while the Swedes comfortably beat the Czechs 4-1.
| Group Stockholm | |||||||||
| Rank | Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | RUS | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 8 | 21 |
| 2 | SWE | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 15 | 18 |
| 3 | CZE | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 11 | 14 |
| 4 | NOR | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 19 | 13 |
| 5 | LAT | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 19 | 6 |
| 6 | GER | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 31 | 6 |
| 7 | DEN | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 4 |
| 8 | ITA | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 31 | 2 |
As far as stats go, Evgeni Malkin (RUS) leads the goalscorers with 7 goals, Patrick Thoresen (NOR) has 6 and tied for third are Ales Hemsky (CZE) and Mats Trygg (NOR) with 5. Henrik Zetterberg (SWE) leads with 11 assists, with Duncan Keith (CAN), Max Pacioretty (USA) and Thoresen tied for second with 10. Thoresen leads all scorers with 16pts, Malkin in second with 14 and Zetterberg third with 13.
Keith leads in defensemen scoring with 11 points, Jonas Holos (NOR) is second with 8 while Sekera is tied with Justin Faulk (USA) and Erik Karlsson (SWE) for third with 7.