A STRONG START WITH FINNISH
Boxing Day match was no simple debut, but this Canadian juniors side proved its mettle
A little luck and a lot of opportunistic scoring — that’s essentially how Canada defeated Finland 4-2 in their first game of the world junior hockey championship on Tuesday.
It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but there was a lot to like from the Canadian side, which received goals from four different players and a 29-save effort from goalie Carter Hart.
Consider this a warm-up game — for both the players and fans. The KeyBank Center, the home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, was barely half-full on Day 1 of the tournament.
It was clear that those that did come to watch had crossed the border, as this was as close to a Team Canada home game as you could get.
From the beginning, the boys in red and white gave the sparse crowd something to cheer about. The Canadians, who have no draft-eligible players and only one top-10 draft pick on their roster, don’t have a star player like Connor McDavid or even Dylan Strome this time around.
But in their bid for a second gold medal in nine years — they last won in 2015 — they won’t lack in speed or balanced scoring. Both were on display in an overpowering, if not one-sided, win against Finland.
“We had a pretty strong game,” said defenceman Victor Mete, on loan from the Montreal Canadiens. “We took it to them in the first period, set the tone and came out with the win.
“We have a lot of great skaters on this team, so if we can use our speed to our advantage, we will. It could have been a lot more than a 4-2 game, I think.”
Canada next plays Slovakia on Wednesday before taking on the defending champion Americans in an outdoor game Friday and then Denmark on Saturday to conclude the preliminary round.
It was difficult to pick just one difference-maker from Canada. Maybe that’s a good thing. Nearly every player on the team did something to affect the game, whether it was fourth-line forward Alex Formenton setting the tone with an early open-ice hit or stay-at-home defenceman Cal Foote saving a sure goal by swatting a puck out of the crease.
It is remarkable how quickly a team that was put together a week or so ago has come together and assumed roles. This looks like a team that’s been playing together all year. There’s chemistry between linemates. And there’s an identity built around an ability to fly around the ice and fill the net.
“We know in that room what we’re capable of,” said Boris Katchouk, who scored the game’s first goal. “On every line there’s players that can really score and I think we showed that tonight. There was some depth scoring today. It wasn’t just one line scoring all the goals.”
Each of the first three goals came from a different line, as Canada jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period thanks to a breakaway goal from Katchouk and a couple of tap-ins from Sam Steel and Drake Batherson. Canada was outshot 12-7 in the frame, but the Finnish goalie really didn’t have a chance.
“It just shows our depth,” said Taylor Raddysh, who also scored for Team Canada. “We have four lines that can score and we’re all fairly fast and the chemistry is starting to come along, and when you have things like that you’re going to have success.”
Team Canada didn’t overpower Finland with a ton of shots — Finland outshot Canada for the bulk of the game — but what stood out is just how easily the offence came.
Canada had defeated Switzerland 8-1, the Czech Republic 9-0 and Denmark 5-2 in pre-tournament exhibition games. While those meaningless games were hardly an indicator of a country’s gold-medal chances, they did showcase just how dangerous Canada’s offence is.
Katchouk, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect who has scored 27 goals in 30 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, was too much for Finland’s defence to handle as the six-foot-three power forward charged up the ice and took the puck hard to the net early in the first period.
The goal probably shouldn’t have counted, considering Katchouk knocked the net off during his backhand deke. But a video review determined the puck had crossed the line by that point.
Less than 30 seconds later, Canada took advantage of a stunned Finnish team when Steel made it 2-0 on a power-play goal. Even when Finland did score, Canada refused to give up momentum. Each time Canada gave up a goal, the team rebounded with one of its own.
Hart, meanwhile, was rocksolid for Canada in net. Neither of the two goals the returning goalie allowed were his fault. On one, a Canadian player cleared the puck onto a Finnish player’s stick. On the other, Canada’s Jonah Gadjovich accidentally redirected a point shot past Hart.
It was another example of a total team effort from a no-name roster. If the Canadians hope to win gold, they will need more of it as the tournament continues.