Canada Shuts Out U Sports in World Junior Selection Camp Game

Canada finished off a two-game exhibition series against Canadian University All-Stars (U Sports) with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday afternoon.

It took just seven minutes for Canada to take the 1-0 lead. At the 7:35 mark of the first, Victor Mete found himself buzzing around the net and fired it past fellow Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven, giving Canada the 1-0 lead. It was a strong start for Canada, who controlled the puck throughout the first period of play, limiting U Sports to just one shot in the first 15 minutes.

Unlike previous contests between Canada and U Sports over the last few years, very few shots were exchanged. In fact, when Canada scored their second goal of the game with just over five minutes left in the second, the shots were 14-5 for the favoured roster. Nonetheless, Nicholas Roy gave Canada the 2-0 lead after going hard to the net and tapping in the puck in close, finishing off a solid effort by the team in red in the second period.

U Sports were having a lot of issues staying out of the penalty box, and it showed when Canada scored their third goal of the game. This time, Brett Howden put himself in a spot to make it 3-0 for the World Junior squad, giving Canada a big lead before the start of the third period.

The two team's looked really tired in the second, playing in their second game in 18 hours. U Sports did, however, get the puck in the net, but it was waived off due to a high-sticking call. Mathieu Pompei was the player to tip the puck past Connor Ingram, but it was waved off swiftly to keep Canada's shutout alive. At the other end, Canada hit the crossbar three times in a two-minute span. Still, no goals were scored in the third, with Canada finishing off the two-game series with two victories, capped off with a 3-0 win on Tuesday afternoon.

Canada will play the Czech Republic on Wednesday to finish off their selection camp tournament. They'll then begin a three-game pre-tournament schedule prior to the tournament, beginning with a 7:00 PM meeting with Finland at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on December 19th. Canada will then open up the official tournament on December 26th when they welcome in Russia at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Photo from Alex D'Addese/U Sports

 

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