Canadian junior hockey team crushes Slovakia
BUFFALO, New York — Sometime during Canada’s 6-0 rout of Slovakia, Jordan Kyrou realized that he and his teammates had made a mistake. They had picked the wrong song to celebrate goals to at the world junior hockey championship.
After every goal, Hey Baby by DJ Otzi blasted over the loudspeakers at KeyBank Center, sometimes twice, as replays of the goal were shown on the scoreboard.
“I think we’re going to change it up,” said Kyrou with a laugh. “At first we thought it was a good idea but after hearing it it’s like: ‘uhhhh it’s kinda iffy.’ We’re probably going to change it up.”
Kyrou said they might return to a celebratory song from previous world juniors, like last year’s We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa or Let Me Clear My Throat by DJ Kool, which was used in Helsinki, Finland, at the 2016 championship.
“We might go with the same one as last year, or I’m not sure what else we were thinking of, more of a pump-up song,” said Kyrou, who refused to snitch on which of his teammates had nominated Hey Baby.
Kyrou led Canada’s (2-0) offence with a goal and two assists, while Vancouver Canucks draft pick Jonah Gadjovich scored twice and was named player of the game. Kyrou’s linemates Sam Steel and Taylor Raddysh also scored, as did Maxime Comtois.
Backup goaltender Colton Point had a 20-save shutout in net, getting the start over Carter Hart, who made 29 saves in Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Finland.
Hart is one of seven players returning from last year’s silvermedal team and the presumptive starter for most of the tournament. But with a pair of back-to-back games in the preliminary round Canadian head coach Dominique Ducharme decided to rest Hart.
“When you get a game, you get a game,” said Point. “There’s no politics involved. He’s obviously the starter for a reason. He’s an amazing goaltender.”
Canada’s defence, one of its strengths heading into the tournament, continues to be battered by injuries. Dante Fabbro is working himself into game shape after missing most of selection camp and two pre-tournament exhibitions with a lower-body contusion. He was limited to 5:18 of work on Wednesday and did not go on the ice in the third.