One to go – Canada dominates in world juniors semifinal win

Braden Schneider in action for the Wheat Kings in 2020.

A Canadian supporter could be forgiven for having DJ Otzi’s “Hey Baby” at the ready on Tuesday night for the gold medal game of the world junior men’s hockey championship.

Canada was that impressive in their 5-0 win over Russia in the tournament’s first semifinal game played inside of a bubble environment with no fans at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta., on Monday night. World juniors are being played in a bubble due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Just 59 seconds into the game against Russia, Canadian centre Alex Newhook, who returned after missing one game due to injury, ripped home a shot in close to the top right corner of the Russian net with so much mustard the officials needed to stop the contest to check video review to confirm the puck went into the goal.

After the officials said that tally was good, Canada kept storming the Russian end and exited the first frame with a 3-0 lead. The world junior hosts added single goals in the second and third periods to round out a convincing 5-0 victory looking like the NHL’s 1980s Edmonton Oilers in the process.

The win propels Canada into Tuesday’s goal medal game (8:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

Canada will face the United States, who slipped past Finland 4-3 in Monday’s other semifinal. Finland and Russia will go at it in Tuesday’s bronze medal game (4:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

For Canada in Monday’s dominant win, the tournament hosts never took the foot off the gas after Newhook gave the Canadian side a 1-0 lead.

At the 10:33 mark of the opening frame, Dylan Cozens and Jacob Pelletier combined to set up linemate Connor McMichael on a backdoor feed, and McMichael ripped the puck into an open cage to increase Canada’s advantage to 2-0.

Following that tally, Canada struck again this time on the power play at the 15:05 of the opening frame when forward Cole Perfetti ripped home a shot glove side on Russian netminder Yaroslav Askarov to give the tournament hosts a 3-0 lead.

Cozens and Bowen Byram, who is star offensive-defenceman for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, picked up helpers on Perfetti’s tally.

Canada held a 16-7 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes.

Dylan Cozens in action for the Hurricanes in 2019.

Things didn’t get any better for the Russians in the second. At the 4:09 mark of that frame, Canadian defenceman and Prince Albert, Sask., product Braden Schneider ripped home his first goal of the tournament through a screen to put Canada up 4-0.

Schneider, who plays for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, has his best game of the tournament as he was sound and physically strong at both ends of the ice.

With less than three minutes to go in the second, Russia appeared to gain a measure of relief when forward Mikhail Abramov deposited a power-play goal in the back of the Canadian net.

The Russians couldn’t even get a reprieve from that development.

The Canadian coaching staff immediately challenged the goal sighting an offside zone entry. Following a video review, the official determined the play was offside and disallowed the Russian marker allowing Canada’s lead to hold at 4-0.

The only thing that seemingly went wrong was Cozens was stopped on a penalty shot with 29.4 seconds remaining in the second.

With 1:29 remaining in the third, Cozens scored into an empty Russian net to complete a three-point night and round out Canada’s 5-0 win. The star centre for the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes has points in all six of Canada’s games through the preliminary and playoff round netting eight goals and eight assists for 16 points over that time.

Canadian netminder Devon Levi was brilliant again making 28 saves to pick up his third shutout of the tournament. Askarov turned away 30-of-34 shots to take the loss in goal for Russia.

Canada and Russia met in the goal medal final at last year’s world juniors in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Canada fell behind 3-1 in that contest in the third period but rallied for a 4-3 victory with forward Akil Thomas scoring the winner with 3:58 remaining in regulation.

In Monday’s win, another group that needs to take a bow is Canada’s coaching staff led by Andre Tourigny, who is the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. The staff includes assistant coaches Mitch Love, who is the head coach of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Tyler Dietrich, who is an assistant coach with the Blades, Michael Dyck, who is the head coach of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, and goaltender coach Jason LaBarbera.

LaBarbera was the goaltending coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, but he moved over to become a full-time goalie coach for the NHL’s Calgary Flames before world juniors started. The Flames own the Hitmen.

The fact the Canadian side came out of the gates on fire and never let up on Monday showed the coaching staff did their part to make sure the players were motivated and prepared. The Canadian players haven’t got complacent even with the fact Canada hasn’t trailed at one time during this event going 6-0.

Bowen Byram in action for the Giants in 2019.

When Canada won gold at the world juniors held during the 2017-18 hockey season in Buffalo, New York, DJ Otzi’s “Hey Baby” was the popular goal song for the Canadian side. It has become a popular tune for Canadian fans to play when Canada experiences success at succeeding world juniors.

After watching Canada romp past Russia on Monday, it is easy for Canadian fans to envision “Hey Baby” being played again on Tuesday night.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Canada needs to avoid complacency at world juniors

Hosts open with big 16-2 win over Germany

Dylan Cozens in action for the Hurricanes in 2018-19.

Canada’s coaches are likely happy their squad’s first preliminary round game at the world junior men’s hockey championship is over.

On Saturday inside the bubble environment at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alta., Canada opened preliminary round play crushing Germany 16-2. It was the type of game that really does Canada no favours in the grand scheme of things, because they were that much of a superior side.

The game did help the Canadian players shake off rust as most haven’t played in a truly meaningful game since March due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world. Saturday’s game was played without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For most of the players on Canada’s roster, this was just their second contest since March. Canada blanked Russia 1-0 in a spirited pre-tournament game on Wednesday.

In Saturday’s encounter against Germany, it felt like you could only shake off the rust for so long. Eventually, the blowout hit a point where one worried that the victory ceased being helpful to Canada.

Germany showed up in the Alberta capital city without four players due to positive COVID-19 tests in Lukas Reichel, Nino Kinder, Elias Lindner and netminder Tobias Ancicki.

On top of that, Germany had nine players isolating in hotel rooms on Saturday night because of positive COVID-19 upon arriving in Edmonton.

Germany played with 14 skaters in nine forwards and five defenceman for the second straight game played on two consecutive nights. Finland downed Germany 5-3 on Christmas Day, which marked the opening day of the preliminary round.

Germany was heading into Saturday’s clash with Canada at a clear disadvantage.

Kaiden Guhle in action for the Raiders last season.

The results showed on the scoreboard. Canada led 4-1 after the first period and held an 11-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.

Dylan Cozens, a star centre with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, had a hat trick and three assists for Canada.

Dawson Mercer, Philip Tomasino, Alex Newhook and Peyton Krebs each scored twice for the host country. Kaiden Guhle, Ryan Suzuki, Jakob Pelletier, Thomas Harley and Connor McMichael potted singles to round out the scoring for the Canadian side.

Guhle, who is a star offensive-defenceman for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, had the opening tally of Saturday’s contest.

John Peterka and Florian Elias replied with singles for Germany.

Devon Levi  stopped eight-of-nine shots over two periods to pick up the win in goal for Canada. Dylan Garand of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers played the third period in relief turning away five-of-six shots sent his way.

Arno Tiefensee turned away seven-of-11 shots to take the loss in goal for Germany. He was pulled after the first period.

Jonas Gahr played the final two frames in relief turning away 21-of-33 shots fired his way.

The biggest adversity Canada faced was losing defenceman and Prince Albert, Sask., product Braden Schneider, who plays for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, in the first period after he was ejected for receiving a major penalty for a head check.

The opening part of Canada’s schedule in the preliminary round is fairly light. Canada’s second game is Sunday against Slovakia (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN). While Slovakia is 1-0, that is a contest were Canada will be a heavy favourite and should not have any difficulty in winning.

Canada’s third game of the preliminary round is Tuesday against Switzerland (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN), and that contest is another that should easily go in the win column for Canada.

Bowen Byram in action for the Giants in 2019-20.

Canada shouldn’t have any difficulty getting to 3-0, which would lock up a berth in the playoff round.

Canada’s final game of preliminary round on Thursday against Finland (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN) will be the host side’s first true test in a game that counts in the tournament standings.

Having those three easier opening games in succession could create an opportunity for Canadian players to develop bad habits.

Canadian head coach Andre Tourigny, who is the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, and his staff will have a big challenge on their hands that way.

The saving grace might be the fact Canada did play Russia in a pre-tournament game. Canada and Russia are the favourites to win gold at a world juniors where at least half the teams are carrying watered down rosters due to players testing positive for COVID-19.

While that encounter was a pre-tournament game, both sides played like it did mean something. Of course, Canadian captain Kirby Dach, who is a centre for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and an alumnus of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, was lost for the entire world junior tournament injuring his wrist on what seemed like a harmless bodycheck in the centre ice zone in the third period.

With International Ice Hockey Federation rules declaring a team must have a player designated as a captain for each game played, Canada has elected to rotate the captain duties between Cozens and offensive-defenceman Bowen Byram, who plays for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.

Connor McMichael, who is a centre for the OHL’s London Knights, have been named a new alternate captain for Canada.

Despite losing Dach, the pre-tournament contest with Russia gave the Canadian players an idea of where their focus and intensity level needs to be when playing the tougher teams at this event.

Braden Schneider in action for the Wheat Kings last season.

Against Slovakia and Switzerland, the Canadian players need to keep up their intensity level the whole contest, even if the score gets uncomfortably lopsided. Dumping the puck in and playing the trap for the last 30 minutes of a blowout win is the sure way to create the complacency, which could spell doom in possible future encounters against foes like Russia.

Canada has to continue to keep the foot on the gas against the weaker teams to prevent developing bad habits that could be costly against stronger opponents.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.