Team Canada – Page 3 – CanucksBanter

Saturday, August 13 | 4 p.m. MT | Edmonton, Alberta | Preliminary Round

Canada’s National Junior Team gets into the back half of its preliminary round schedule Saturday at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship, seeking another win to stay undefeated as it meets Czechia.

LAST GAME

Canada had a dominant start on Thursday against Slovakia, scoring four first-period goals on its way to an 11-1 win. Mason McTavish had a night to remember—he became the seventh Canadian to score four goals in a World Juniors game and added two helpers for a six-point effort. Joshua Roy registered a goal and three assists, while Connor Bedard, Will Cuylle, Brennan Othmann, Olen Zellweger, Logan Stankoven and Zack Ostapchuk also found the back of the net.

Czechia is coming off a thriller Finland on Thursday, albeit a 4-3 shootout loss. Jaroslav Chmelar and Jiri Kulich helped the Czechs to an early 2-0 lead, but it needed a Jan Mysak goal with 7:22 left to force overtime, and eventually a shootout. Mysak counted again in the shootout, but the Finns would convert a pair of chances to earn the extra point.

LAST MEETING

The two teams last faced off on Boxing Day 2021, kicking off the first attempt at the 2022 World Juniors before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Owen Power was the story, becoming the first defenceman in Team Canada history to record a hat trick in a World Juniors game—the last two coming on 5-on-3 power plays as part of a 6-3 win. Five of Canada’s six goals were scored by defencemen. Ahead of the rescheduled tournament, the IIHF announced that any games played in the December event would not be added to the official game records, and all player stats from that event would be unofficial.

WHAT TO WATCH

McTavish and Bedard have been magic in the first two games, combining for six goals and 12 points. Look for the duo to continue to put together more than a few highlight-reel goals as the tournament continues. Olen Zellweger has also had a strong start from the back end, registering two goals and three points while all players with a plus-nine rating.

Czechia has a strong blue line led by David Jiricek, who was selected sixth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2022 NHL Draft. Up front, Mysak, the Czech captain and a Montreal Canadiens prospect, is back for his third World Juniors. With two prelim games under his belt, the Hamilton Bulldogs forward has three goals and four points.

A LOOK BACK

As Czechoslovakia (1977-92), the Czech/Slovak Republics (1993) and the Czech Republic/Czechia (1994-present), the Canadians have faced the Czechs 36 times since the first IIHF World Junior Championship in 1977, fashioning a 21-7-8 (W-L-T) record.

Against the current iteration, Canada has lost just a single game in 20 tries since 1994, and none in regulation time. Prior to the now-unofficial meeting in December (which isn’t included in the 20 meetings), the Canadians posted a 3-0 quarterfinal win in the Edmonton bubble in 2021, anchored by a 29-save shutout from Devon Levi, and were 7-2 winners on New Year’s Eve 2019 on the back of four-point efforts from Barrett Hayton and Dylan Cozens.

All-time record: Canada leads 18-1-2 (Czechia leads 1-0 in OT/SO)
Canada goals: 97
Czechia goals: 33

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Captain Mason McTavish tied a Canadian World Junior single-game record with four goals and added two assists in an 11-1 romp over Slovakia on Thursday. Host Canada, silver medalists in 2021, has won two straight games, while the Slovaks remain pointless in Group A.

It was the most lopsided Canadian victory ever over Slovakia at this tournament. The previous biggest gap came in an 8-0 win on 26 December 2014 in Montreal.

Other Canadians with four goals in one World Junior game include Mario Lemieux (1983), Simon Gagne (1999), Brayden Schenn (2010), Taylor Raddysh (2016), and Maxime Comtois (2018). At age 16, Connor Bedard also had four goals in the 11-4 win over Austria at the tournament cancelled due to Omicron in December.

Of tying the goals record, McTavish said: “It’s pretty cool, a special moment, but credit to my teammates. They were looking for me all game, especially Bedard. He had a great game.”

Bedard, the consensus top prospect for the 2023 NHL Draft, opened the scoring for the second straight game and chipped in a helper.

Joshua Roy stepped up with a goal and three assists. Fellow forward Brennan Othmann – making his tournament debut along with blueliner Ethan Del Mastro – had a goal and two assists. Will Cuylle, Olen Zellweger, and Logan Stankoven contributed a goal and an assist apiece. Zach Ostapchuk had a single.

Matej Kaslik had the lone goal for Slovakia.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Slovakia’s Adam Sykora. “It was a terrible game for everyone. All we can do is look forward to the next game against Latvia. It’s the most important game of the tournament for us.”

Coach Ivan Fenes’ squad made far too many mistakes to have a prayer against the host nation, from bad turnovers to easy breakaway opportunities. Canada, meanwhile, put on the afterburners compared to the opening 5-2 win over Latvia.

“Our goal is to get better every day,” McTavish said. “I thought we moved the puck a lot quicker today. Coach kind of touched on that, too, less individual effort. We’re happy with how we won.”

Canadian head coach Dave Cameron gave goalie Dylan Garand his first start of these 2022 World Juniors. For Slovakia, Simon Latkoczy, who made 47 saves in Slovakia’s Day One 5-4 loss to Czechia, was replaced by backup Tomas Bolo to start the second period after giving up four goals on 15 shots.

The Canadians outshot the Slovaks 44-23.

The Slovaks put up a decent fight right out of the gate, but couldn’t contain Bedard. The North Vancouver-raised ace stickhandled around Slovak defenders at the centre point, sent a saucy flip pass to McTavish, and then headed to the net, where he put the Anaheim Ducks first-rounder’s return feed past Latkoczy’s glove at 6:16.

McTavish explained: “He made a really nice pass to me and I kind of cut by their two wingers. I saw he had quite a bit of speed so I knew he was going to go back door and he feathered it through.”

At 13:06, Cuylle, who captained the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires in 2021-22, made it 2-0 Canada. The New York Rangers prospect scored five-hole on a breakaway set up by McTavish and Ridly Greig.

Canada’s 3-0 goal at 15:57 came off a giveaway by Slovak rearguard Simon Groch, who threw the puck up the middle, only to have it intercepted by Cuylle. He fed Othmann in the right faceoff circle for a one-timer that bulged the twine.

From the high slot, Zellweger winged the puck off the post and in with 43 seconds left in the opening stanza. The Slovaks challenged the goal, claiming it was offside, but video review said otherwise and it was 4-0.

The Canadians got an extended two-man advantage due to the ensuing delay-of-game penalty plus late slashing minors to Sykora and Boris Zabka. It carried over to the second period. Just 1:02 in, Stankoven converted a rebound past Bolo on the 5-on-3.

Moments later, Bedard nearly had another goal when he rang one off the Slovak goalie’s right post on the rush. However, McTavish made no mistake on a clearcut 2-on-0 break, flanked by Nathan Gaucer, as he zipped the puck home for a 6-0 gap at 6:25.

“We have a lot of skill, but we need to work more as a team,” Sykora said. “Today we didn’t play as a team. Everyone wanted to play his own game. We can’t do that.”

Shortly after the midway mark, Bolo denied Othmann on a breakaway. The Slovaks finally ruined Garand’s shutout bid at 14:40. They buzzed the Canadian net and Kaslik converted a rebound for his second goal in as many games.

“I saw he was open, and he’s a great scorer, so I just passed to him and told him to shoot,” Roy said.

At 3:44 of the third period, Othmann set up McTavish right in front for his fourth goal. Roy scored at 15:07 and Ostapchuk at 19:39 to finish off the onslaught.

On Friday, Slovakia will seek its first tournament win versus Latvia, while Canada battles the Czechs on Saturday.

Canada has now defeated Slovakia 15 times in 16 World Junior meetings with a goal difference of 86-18.

The only point the Canadians have ever conceded to Slovakia was in a scenario that no longer exists: a 0-0 tie. On 27 December 1998 in Brandon, Manitoba, goalie Roberto Luongo made 36 saves for Canada, while Jan Lasak delivered 31 saves for Slovakia.

Source: iihf.com