Derrick Pouliot and Team Canada opened the 2014 IIHF World Juniors with a 7-2 victory over Germany on Dec. 26. Pouliot also scored two assists with Team Canada, during the victory over Germany.
Derrick Pouliot and Team Canada opened the 2014 IIHF World Juniors with a 7-2 victory over Germany on Dec. 26.
Pouliot also scored two assists with Team Canada, during the victory over Germany. This is the first time that Pouliot has played with Team Canada for the World Juniors.
During the victory over Germany, a hat trick was scored by Anthony Mantha, assisted by linemate Jonathan Drouin on all three goals. Josh Anderson, Bo Horvat, Sam Reinhart and Nic Petan also scored for Canada, which is 12-0 all-time against Germany at the IIHF under-20 event.
Germany scored the first goal as Lennart Palausch won a faceoff in Canada's end and defenceman Saeftel threaded a pass through traffic and past Jake Paterson only 1:33 into the game. Then Matt Dumba breezed into the German zone and flipped a puck to the net that Anderson banged in at 6:21.
Mantha scored from the slot on a power play at 10:41, but Moser tied it at 15:59 with a man advantage after Adam Pelech whiffed on a clearing pass. Mantha came out from behind the net to beat Shawinigan Cataractes goalie Marvin Cupper at 17:36 and Reinhart slipped the puck to Horvat for a goal at 18:29.
Reinhart was left alone during a German line change to take a feed from Jos Morrissey and go in alone to score 6:45 into the second frame and Mantha was at the side of the net to knock in Drouin's pass on a power play at 10:28.
The 16-year-old Conner McDavid got his second assist of the game as he came from behind the net to set up Petan's goal at 10:13 of the third.
There were two other games on Dec. 26, with Russia playing Norway and the United States.
Canada returned to competition on Saturday, when they lost 5-4 to the Czech Republic. The preliminary rounds of the World Juniors continue to play until Tuesday, Dec. 31.
The quarter finals start on Thursday, Jan. 2, with the semi final on Saturday, Jan. 4.
During the pre-tournament games Canada finished with a 2-1 exhibition record. Jonathan Drouin scored twice to lead Canada's national junior team to a 4-1 win over Switzerland on Dec. 23. Bo Horvat and Connor McDavid had the other goals for Canada. Jake Paterson stopped 23 shots in goal.
Rathgeb opened the scoring on the power play just 1:21 into the first period. But Drouin countered with power-play goals at 15:31 and 17:02 to put Canada ahead to stay.
Horvat scored shorthanded at 19:51 of the second before McDavid rounded out the scoring at 4:38 of the third
The one loss during the pre-tournament was against Sweden on Dec. 21, when Canada fell 3-0 to Sweden. Andre Burakowsky scored and added an assist for Sweden, while Lukas Bengtsson and Andreas Johnson had goals as well.
The first game of the pre-tournament was against Finland, which Canada defeated 4-2 on Dec. 20. Finland opened the scoring at 8:34 of the first period, scoring shorthanded at 12:45 to put the Finns up 2-0.
Canada made it 2-1 before the end of the first on Horvat's goal before tying the score just 25 seconds into the second when Dumba scored. Ekblad gave Canada its first lead of the game at 14:43 of the second before Mantha added some insurance two minutes into the third.
Canada starter Zach Fucale stopped 11-of-13 shots, after a rough start. Canada was zero-for-one on the power play while Finland was zero-for-six.
