Monday, August 15, 2022. 8:48 PM
EDMONTON – Team Canada’s crescendo journey continued Monday at the World Juniors.
Hesitant once morest Latvia, reassuring once morest Slovakia and dominant once morest the Czech Republic, head coach Dave Cameron’s squad secured first place in Group A by closing their first leg of the tournament with an almost impeccable performance at the expense of Finland.
Thanks to a 6-3 victory, ECJ reached the quarter-finals with an immaculate record following four games. His first qualifying match will oppose him to Switzerland, heiress of the fourth position of group B, on Wednesday.
In front of a team that had to test the solidity of its foundation, Canada finally never allowed doubt to settle. Or finally, so little. A little bad luck and an excess of indiscipline allowed the Finns to believe in it in the third period, but the cushion that the men in black had given themselves in the first 40 minutes of play ultimately made them untouchable.
Brennan Othmann, Tyson Foerster, Connor Bedard, Ridly Greig, Mason McTavish and William Dufour, in an empty net, were the architects of Canadian happiness.
At the other end of the ice, Cameron had entrusted the trio that Greig pivots with Dufour and Joshua Roy with the mandate to hold in check the dangerous Finnish combination led by Aatu Räty. The mission was accomplished with distinction. The Scandinavian heavyweights, through Joakim Kemell, scored just one goal to make it 5-2 in the third period.
The Canadian bench argued vehemently that play should have been stopped earlier because the puck left the court, but the video replay did not allow officials to confirm this version.
This development seemed to shake the Finns out of their torpor. The latter were then given a platinum opportunity to come back in the game when Will Cuylle was awarded a major penalty for a knee, but for five minutes of power play, including 1:01 at 5-on-3 , never the slightest trace of ascent might be detected.
With exemplary discipline in the first two thirds of the match, the crowd favorites sinned four times in the third. The Finnish power play, which had produced eight goals in thirteen chances (61.5%) before the game, eventually produced once in five deployments.
For his fault, Cuylle will be suspended for the match once morest Switzerland.
Unless there is a surprise in the last game of the preliminary phase, Finland will face Germany in the quarter-finals. On the other side of the table, the United States should find the Czech Republic and Sweden should find themselves in the way of Latvia.
More details to come
First shot, first goal for Canada
Foerster capitalizes on Greig’s breakthrough
And seven for Mason McTavish!
