December 26, 2012 10:53 am 
Canada, Sweden and Finland all won handily on day one of the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia, but the Russians had to go to overtime to beat Slovakia.
Canada’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made his mark on day one, registering five points (one goal, four assists) in Canada’s 9-3 win over Germany.
All three Dallas prospects playing in the tournament were in action Wednesday. Here’s how they fared.
RW Brett Ritchie (second round/2011) had two assists in Canada’s 9-3 win over Germany. Ritchie, who played on Canada’s second line with Ryan Strome and Jonathan Drouin, had secondary assists on Canada’s sixth and ninth goals in the game. He had one shot on goal and was a plus-three in the game.
LW Emil Molin (fourth round/2011) had one assist in Sweden’s 4-1 victory over Czech Republic. Molin set up the game’s first goal, which came on a five-on-three power play for Sweden. Molin sent a cross-ice pass to Sebastian Collberg, who scored on a one-timer from the left circle. Molin, who played on Sweden’s second line with Collberg and Elias Lindholm, had no shots and was even. He played on both the power play and penalty kill in the game.
C Radek Faksa (first round/2012) had no points and two shots on goal for the Czechs in the game against Sweden. Faksa, who played on the third line with Martin Frk and Petr Beranek, won 9 of 20 faceoffs. He played on both the power play and penalty kill for the Czechs.
Wednesday’s results
Finland 5, Latvia 1
Canada 9, Germany 3
Sweden 4, Czech Republic 1
Russia 3, Slovakia 2 (OT)
Thursday’s games
Latvia vs. Switzerland, 6:00 a.m.
Germany vs. USA, 8:00 a.m., NHL Network (live & replay at 7:00 p.m.), NHL.com (streamed live)
World Junior Championship Statistics
Statistics for Dallas Stars prospects at the 2013 World Junior Championship
| Player | Pos | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brett Ritchie | RW | Canada | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 0 | 1 |
| Radek Faksa | C | Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Emil Molin | LW | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mark,
your opinion….Ritchie,Olesiak-how close to NHL????
Bill,
Oleksiak — I think he’s close, really close. He’s been pretty impressive at the AHL level. I think he could probably play this season (if there is a season) if they needed him, but letting get him some more seasoning in the AHL wouldn’t hurt.
Ritchie — Tough to say. He’s got all the tools, but you never know until you see him at the next level. My guess is that a year in the minors and he’d be ready to legitimately compete for a spot. But if he continues his pace of improvement/development of the last year, then perhaps sooner.