U.S. bursts Canada’s world junior bubble
American power-play goals against out-of-sync rivals send host country to first loss of tournament
The Canadians know what has to happen for them to advance at the 2017 world junior hockey championship.
Captain Dylan Strome made it clear after Canada lost 3-1 against the United States on Saturday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre.
“There is no secret: We have not been the best five-on-five team the whole tournament,” Strome said.
“We have been surviving on our power play (now 9-for-19). We have to find a way to create more (at even strength). We have to find a way to be better.”
Canada finished the preliminary round with a record of three victories and one loss, putting it in second place behind the Group B-winning Americans, who won all four of their games.
When Canada skates on to the ice at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Monday night in a quarter-final, the opponent will be the Czech Republic. Canada has a record of 12-12 against the Czechs in the history of the event, and crushed them in a pair of pre-tournament games.
The Czechs were third in Group A with one win, one loss and two overtime losses. While the saying goes that anything can happen in these tournaments, there’s little chance Canada will lose the game. A win and Canada, trying still to forget last winter’s sixth-place finish in Helsinki, will head to the semifinals with a guarantee of playing for nothing less than bronze.
Gold, of course, is the only goal. For that to be realized, the Canadian players have to hope that what they were saying after the loss to the Americans holds true.
“I actually think it is a good thing,” Matt Barzal said of Canada’s slow start.
“Rather it happen now than the quarters or semis. It’s nice to see because we know that is what it’s going to take to win, we know how we have to come out, we have to play desperate and every shift counts.”
You would have thought Canada wouldn’t have required proof of that, but here we are.
There would be no early New Year’s celebrations in the ACC.
The crowd of 18,584, with nearly everyone dressed in red, never had a chance to really let the emotions flow. Thanks to some early penalty trouble on the part of the Canadians, the Americans took advantage to score a pair of goals before the game hit seven minutes.
Ottawa Senators prospect Colin White, and then Jordan Greenway, beat goalie Connor Ingram with power play goals.
Already without forward Mitchell Stephens (ankle), Canada lost toptwo defenceman Philippe Myers to a concussion when he was hit by U.S. captain Luke Kunin, who received a game misconduct, in the second period.
Thomas Chabot scored during a two-man advantage to give the fans something to cheer about, but the U.S. two-goal lead was restored when Jeremy Bracco, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, scored five minutes later.
Though there was not a lot of flow to the game because of the number of penalties that were being called, Canada didn’t have much success with consistent zone time in the Americans’ end. Goaltender Joseph Woll, another Leafs prospect, didn’t have an overly busy game making 25 saves, and his teammates steered many Canadian attempts away.
On the whole, Canada was not in sync, and if the idea was to build with each game through the medal round, that was not met.
“Our execution was a bit off,” coach Dominique Ducharme said. “On a few occasions, we had chances to shoot and made extra passes. We’re learning.
“We’re confident. We are in a race to be right there at the end, but there are good teams and we are aware of that.
“We’re starting a new tournament in Montreal and we will be ready for that.”
Strome, sporting a couple of stitches above his upper lip after taking a high stick earlier in the week, concurred.
And for the captain, one loss was enough.
“One game does not define a team,” Strome said. “I think we know that. We have to be better next game.
“It’s going to be a battle, be a grind. It’s not nice to get a loss, but it’s better now than in the next couple of days.”’