World Junior Hockey Championship 2017 Results: Monday Group Scores, Reaction

Monday marked the start of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Canada, with Finland looking to defend its title against nine other countries that are bringing their best young stars from around the world in a battle for supremacy.

The first day of competition featured four matches, two from each group, as the squads compete in a round-robin format to determine the top four teams from Groups A and B before the quarterfinals start Jan. 2.

Here are the results from Monday's action and updated group standings, per the tournament's official website:

Group	Matchup	Result/Start Time (ET)
A	Sweden vs. Denmark	Sweden 6, Denmark 1
B	United States vs. Latvia	3:30 p.m.
A	Czech Republic vs. Finland	5 p.m.
B	Canada vs. Russia	8 p.m.

Group Standings

Rank	Group A	Games Played	W-L	Goals For	Goals Against	Points
Rank	Group B	Games Played	W-L	Goals For	Goals Against	Points
1	Sweden	1	1-0	6	1	3
2	Czech Republic	-	-	-	-	-
3	Finland	-	-	-	-	-
4	Switzerland	-	-	-	-	-
5	Denmark	1	0-1	1	6	0
1	Canada	-	-	-	-	-
2	Latvia	-	-	-	-	-
3	Russia	-	-	-	-	-
4	United States	-	-	-	-	-
5	Slovakia	-	-	-	-	-

Sweden 6, Denmark 1

Sweden picked up where it left off during last year's group phase, dominating Denmark in the opening game of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship, 6-1.

This rivalry hasn't traditionally been kind to Denmark, as Lucas Aykroyd of the tournament's official website noted:

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Nikolaj Krag got the only Danish goal. The Danes, who finished eighth at the last two World Juniors, continued their history of futility against Sweden in World Junior play. They lost 10-1 on December 28, 2007; 5-1 on December 27, 2014; and 5-0 on December 30, 2015.

Life doesn't get any easier for Denmark, which faces defending champion Finland on Tuesday.

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Sweden got on the board midway through the first period thanks to a goal from Alexander Nylander, who stole the puck in front of the Denmark net, with TSN offering the highlight:

Despite Nylander's impressive goal, it took a while before the Swedish team started firing on all cylinders. Joel Eriksson Ek found the net with 96 seconds remaining in the first period, which seemed to get the team going.

The second period is when the floodgates broke open for Sweden, which saw Denmark goalie Lasse Petersen fall apart by allowing four goals, including three in less than a nine-minute span.

Nylander's second goal of the day was Sweden's last of the game, coming with 98 seconds left in the second period. He was one of four Swedish players to finish with multiple points, along with Eriksson Ek, Rasmus Dahlin and Carl Grundstrom.

Krag kept things from being completely bleak for Denmark, putting the puck past Felix Sandstrom with just about two minutes remaining in the third period.

Denmark has just one win in regulation in this tournament since 2015, and based on Monday's result, there is a long way for the team to go before it can turn into a threat.

Sweden, on the other hand, continued its excellence on the big stage. It has gone undefeated in group play every year since 2008 and hasn't finished worse than fourth overall since 2006.

With a lot of hockey still to be played, the nine other countries in the World Junior Championship got a great preview of what Sweden is capable of moving forward.