Adamo Marinelli
Dec. 31, 2022
Canada scored two goals in just over two minutes on their first two shots on goal and Canada’s quick start proved to be enough to defeat Sweden 5-1 to secure their third-round robin win and second place in Group A.
Canada and Czechia both won three games, however, Czechia’s head-to-head win over Canada in regulation and Czechia’s overtime loss compared gave them the extra point and helped them top Group A. Czechia finished with a 3-0-1-0 record (10 points), and Canada finished with a 3-0-0-1 record (nine points).
After losing their first game to Czechia 5-2, Canada outscored their opponent 27-3 in the next three games and finished with a goal differential of 21 (29 goals for and eight against).
Canada outshot Sweden 45-23 and their creative playmaking, puck movement, and speed created a lot of open spaces for players to get into scoring positions and create scoring chances.
Canada’s phenomenal playmaking, speed, and creativity with the puck were evident in the first two goals. Canada has many talented players with these attributes, but none are more impressive than 17-year-old phenom forward Connor Bedard.
Connor Bedard is especially talented. His vision, speed, agility, hockey IQ, creativity with the puck on his stick, ability to fake out defenders with his eyes before slotting the puck to an open teammate, his ability to make any pass anywhere on the ice look easy, and his strong wrist and snap-shot with a quick release are all super impressive. Bedard made a nice long pass right to the blade of Joshua Roy’s stick for the opener and then forced a turnover in neutral ice before moving the puck forward to Shane Wright who made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Brennan Othmann who scored his first goal of the tournament on the powerplay.
Bedard ended the evening with four assists and finished the round-robin stage with six goals and 12 assists totaling 18 points, ten more than his teammate Logan Stankoven who finished with eight points (two goals, six assists).
Bedard is tied for the most ever goals, assists, and points by a Canadian at a single World Junior tournament and he is tied with Eric Lindros for the most points ever by a Canadian in his career at the World Juniors with 31, and he has done it in only 13 games. That is incredible!
What he is able to do as a goal scorer and as a playmaker makes him a threat to score whenever he touches the puck and makes him the consensus number-one pick in the 2023 NHL draft.
Tyson Hinds found the back of the net after controlling a nice pass from Stankoven to extend Canada’s lead to 3-0 midway through the first period.
Sweden cut the lead to 3-1 on a five-on-three man advantage (Adam Fantili served Zack Ostapchuk’s five-minute kneeing penalty while Ostapchuk served 10-minute misconduct for the knee) with a nice goal by Ludvig Jansson, but it would be the only goal they would score. Canada’s defense tightened up, their forecheck was great, they didn’t give Sweden space to operate in the attacking zone and create scoring chances and they forced turnovers while dominating possession and the pace of the game in the neutral zone.
Canada was very undisciplined against Sweden, recording 23 penalty minutes (two penalties five minutes or longer), but Canada’s penalty kill unit - which has been strong all tournament - killed off five of their six penalties with ease and their defense remained strong.
Sweden’s penalty kill also played well tonight, as Canada who scored at ease on the powerplay in their last two games, only converted on one of five powerplays.
After a scoreless, defensive-oriented second period, which saw Canada outshoot Sweden 12-11, Canada added two more goals early in the third period thanks to Othmann’s second of the tournament on a fantastic, powerful and accurate one-timer and Kevin Korchinski’s first of the tournament where he juked around a defender to create some space before going upstairs to extend Canada’s lead to 5-1.
Thomas Milic was fantastic in goal once again and Canada’s goaltending which was their biggest weakness heading into the tournament has been almost perfect in all their games excluding Czechia. Milic turned away 22 of the 23 shots he faced and made several crucial saves at various points of the game including preventing Sweden from cutting Canada’s lead to 3-2 late in the first period and in the second.
Canada’s 12 shots in the second period were its lowest shot total in a single period of this game and Sweden’s 11 shots were its highest shot total in a single period of this game. Canada’s defense did a great job of limiting the quality of Sweden’s scoring chances and forced them outside, keeping them away from dangerous scoring areas like the slot and the faceoff circle. Canada held Sweden to a combined total of 12 shots in the first and third periods - five in the first and seven in the third.
Sweden goaltender Carl Lindbom faced 45 shots and was very busy against a strong Canadian offensive attack. Despite allowing five goals, he made 40 saves, many in crucial moments to avoid the Canadian lead increasing. Dylan Guenther was a particular threat, with seven shots on goal.
Canada has a day off tomorrow before playing Slovakia at 7:30 P.M. EST on January 2nd. After losing their first fame, Canada is looking to go undefeated the rest of the tournament to win their
second consecutive World Juniors Gold Medal like how Argentina won the World Cup after losing their first game 2-1 to Saudia Arabia.
Go Canada!
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