DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? CANADA’S BRAIN TRUST DOES
National team’s reliance on quick, crafty, yet unheralded players paying off at WJC
The next time someone says that Team Canada is without a star player at this year’s world juniors, load up Jordan Kyrou’s goal from Wednesday night’s 6-0 win against Slovakia.
It was the kind of trick you might see in a David Blaine magician special.
One second, Kyrou was cutting to his left to avoid a defender. And then he stopped suddenly and cut back to his right, threading the puck through a pair of feet as though they were a set of pylons in a practice drill. It didn’t seem real. It was like the puck was attached to the stick with fishing wire. That’s how silly the Toronto native — and secondround pick of the St. Louis Blues — made the poor Slovak defender look.
To cap it off, Kyrou then wristed the puck past a helpless goalie, who like the rest of the players and fans in the building seemed mesmerized by the deking exhibition on display.
It was just another example of how much hidden talent there is on this team.
What might have started out as a no-name roster of secondround picks and mid-range prospects is quickly turning into a dangerous offensive collection of snipers. Everyone can score. More than that, they can all go bar-down.
Jonah Gadjovich had two goals, while Sam Steel, Taylor Raddysh and fourth-liner Maxime Comtois all scored in the one-sided win to remain in first place in Group A. The team next plays the United States in an outdoor game on Friday at New Era Field — the home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills — before concluding the preliminary round with a game against Denmark on Saturday.
Based on the amount of offensive options at head coach Dominique Ducharme’s disposal, the U.S. should have its hands full deciding which of Canada’s four lines — all have scored already — deserves the most checking attention.
By now, it shouldn’t be surprising.
We’re only two games into the tournament, but Canada is not beating teams with defence and dump-and-chase hockey. This is a fun team to watch. There isn’t a Connor McDavid to bring in the casual sports fan. But there are plenty of Mitch Marners — the type of players who can make magic happen every time they are on the ice.
Kyrou, who still leads the Ontario Hockey League with 58 points in 30 games despite having last played on Dec. 9, leads Canada with four points in two games.
His linemate Steel, who was the Western Hockey League’s MVP last year, has two goals and one assist.
Raddysh and Gadjovich also have two goals and one assist, while three other forwards have one goal each.
What is encouraging is how Canada is scoring. Kyrou’s goal was obviously flashy, but three others came from driving to the net and tapping in rebounds or redirections. Comtois’ goal was a blend of both as the towering forward hunted down a Slovak defender and stripped him of the puck before roofing a backhand over into the top corner.
Sure, Slovakia was hardly a challenging opponent. But give the Canadian team credit for playing a disciplined game and dictating the pace of play with their speed. When they needed it, their goaltending was once again rock solid.
A day after Carter Hart held the fort against Finland, backup Colton Point stopped all 20 shots he faced. It might not have been a heavily taxing game for Point, but his role did become more important in the first period when Canada was down to five defencemen after Jake Bean slid headfirst into the end boards on a collision with a Slovak player.
Canada was already without Cal Foote, who hurt his foot in the game against Finland while blocking a shot. The top-pairing defenceman’s status for the rest of the tournament is unclear, which made Bean’s return in the second period an obviously welcome one.
Of course, with an offence like this one, they didn’t really need it.