Canada East Topples Czech’s in World Junior A Challenge Opener

Canada East began the 2016 World Junior A Challenge with a 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic in Bonnyville, Alberta.

Canada wasted very little time finding the back of the net, but their best actual scoring chance of the first didn’t result in a goal. After getting obstructed on a scoring chance, Nick Lalonde was given a chance to score on a penalty shot. Unfortunately for the home team, Lalonde couldn’t successfully beat Jan Ruzicka with the deke and the game stayed scoreless.

But at 2:54, that all changed. Nic Mucci would give Canada the 1-0 advantage early after sending the puck towards the play, but it somehow beat Ruzicka through the legs to give Canada the lead off of a weird angle shot.

The Czech’s had a great second half of the first period, but they couldn’t capitalize on any of their chances. Instead, Canada scored at 9:19 of the second period to make it 2-0. This time, Finn Evans got the puck over to Charles Levesque, who made a quick move before shooting the puck on net and giving Canada the 2-0 advantage.

Canada wanted to put the game away, and with how they were controlling the puck possession in the second, it looked like they just needed one more goal to do so. That theory proved to be right as Finn Evans kept jamming away at the puck at the 16:17 mark, eventually getting a good enough poke to beat Ruzicka and give Canada the 3-0 advantage.

A scary situation near the end of the period would actually work out in the Czech Republic’s favour. At 17:56, Canadian forward Bobby Dow was ejected for charging after running into Ruzicka, who was visually shaken on the play.

At the other end, though, the Czech’s made Canada pay. Nine seconds into the power-play, Adam Kubik skated around the net and fired a snipe past Stefano Cantali’s glove hand, putting the Czech’s on the board before the end of the second period.

Canada would add another one at 5:16 of the third period. While on the power-play, Luke Keenan skated into the zone with a two-on-one. Keenan didn’t keep the puck for himself, instead sending it off to Vincent Chapleau who would finish off the one-timer for the 4-1 goal. It was all the game would require to give Canada the victory, starting off the World Junior A Challenge with a 4-1 win.

Canada East will get a night off before meeting with USA to finish off the preliminary round, a 7:30 PM MST local start on Tuesday. The Czech’s will be thrust back into action on Monday, fighting off against the Americans at 3:30 PM MST to complete their round robin action.

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