All the right bounces for Team Canada,
BUFFALO, N.Y.— They showed they were fast, they showed they could score, and they showed they were also a little bit nervous.
Still, Team Canada got the start it wanted at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship with a 4-2 win over Finland on Tuesday.
“It was awesome,” said forward Drake Batherson, who scored one of Canada’s goals. “It was my first international game and with all the fans here, and my family here, it was a great experience.”
Boris Katchouk, Sam Steel and Taylor Raddysh also scored for Canada. Goalie Carter Hart got the win against a Finland squad that’s expected to score a lot of goals.
It is sometimes lost that these are teenagers playing on the biggest stage of their career. While much was made that Canada has seven returning players from last year’s silver-medal winning squad, it also means there are 15 participating for the first time.
And it showed, even though Canada got off to a 3-1 lead in the first period.
“Any time you’re in the first game of a playoff round, or the first game of a tournament, it’s quite often the one where the focus is harder to get, guys are excited all day,” Team Canada coach Dominique Ducharme said. “That’s draining physically, and also mentally.
“I thought our focus was not as good as the last two (exhibition) games we played. That’s part of getting into a tournament. From there, we have something to build on. “We know what to expect, we know the rink, we know how everything is done. We’ll get better. We’ll build our game.”
Both teams boasted seven players chosen in the first round of the last two NHL drafts in a bit of a powerhouse opener.
As a returning medallist, Canada would normally draw a much weaker opponent for its opening game but got Finland to kick things off. The schedule is based on last year’s tournament and the 2017 edition for Finland was one of its worst. The Finns lost their first three games, fired their coach in-tournament and barely avoided relegation.
The Finns were the stronger team to start, outshooting Canada 12-7 in the first period and 32-31overall. The Finns were also the unluckier team, both at the beginning and the end.
The first goal was a bit of a puzzler because it truly looked like it should not have counted. Katchouk barrelled his way down on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on a breakaway, with a shot ricocheting off the post, off the goalie’s pad and dribbled into the net.
By that time however, Katchouk had been going so fast, he knocked the goal off its moorings. It was a called a goal on the ice and held up despite a video review that seemed to show the net off before the puck crossed the line.
“Maybe the hockey gods were on our side, but we’ll take that bounce, for sure,” said Batherson.
Finland again outshot Canada in the second, 11-10, as both teams traded goals 33 seconds apart midway through the period. Henri Jokiharju scored on the power play at 12:19, but Raddysh got it back with a bit of golf shot on a bouncing puck at 12:52 to restore Canada’s two-goal lead.
Canada might have gotten lucky again when defenceman Cal Foote dove across the crease to save a sure goal at the goal-line with Finland pressuring near the end of the third period, aiding Hart in net.
“That was pretty crazy,” Hart said. “I didn’t know where it was until I saw the replay. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was in. I thought, ‘Oh no.’ And then the next thing you know, the play is still going on.”
Ducharme laughed when recalling Foote’s play.
“It’s always nice to have two goalies on the ice,” the coach said. “To be starting the tournament with a win, against a good team, is positive. We’re happy about that. At the same time, we know we can be better.
“Too many turnovers. We can be checking better. Penalties. It was just because we didn’t use our legs or our speed as much, so we were reaching with our stick, and so on. It’s all about getting into the tournament, and getting into that rhythm, getting that first game behind us and now we can build our tournament.”