Canada Controls Contest Against Slovakia

Canada limited Slovakia to just six shots on the second day of the World Juniors in Toronto, taking the 5-0 victory.

The first period was the Adam Huska show thanks to a tremendous 14 save performance in the opening 20 minutes. A returning member from the 2016 team, Huska put on a performance that was reminiscent of Denis Godla the last time the tournament was held in Canada, 2015. Many of the chances were dangerous, especially one early from Blake Speers.

It would take some efforts, but Canada would eventually take the 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from their seventh defenseman. On their 19^th shot at 5:30, Tyson Jost fed Jeremy Lauzon in the slot, who had all the momentum in the world. Huska had absolutely no chance on Lauzon’s shot, soaring into the top corner for the 1-0 Canadian lead.

Despite the score being low, the shot total was very one-sided. By the time Canada had their second goal, Slovakia only had three shots total, with two coming in the first period. At 30:57, Pierre-Luc Dubois helped get Canada back on the board after making a blind-pass to Taylor Raddysh in front, who perfectly placed the puck in the net with the one-timer from the bottom of the left circle.

Canada was finally beginning to wear down Huska and the Slovaks, making it 3-0 at the point where Slovakia was still at three shots. Two minutes after their last goal, Anthony Cirelli tipped  home a Lauzon point shot off a faceoff win to make it 3-0 for the Canadians on home ice.

Huska was getting no support in the game, and a fourth Canadian goal showed that. At 36:25, on the power play again, Thomas Chabot used a screen by Dubois in front of the net to score from the point, giving Canada more goals than Slovakia had shots.

Mississauga Steelheads prospect Michael McLeod hadn’t been used much in the tournament, with just about seven minutes of ice time after five periods of play. But on his first shift in the third, he made it count. Cirelli would grab another point after making a nice move before sending off the pass in front for the easy tap-in for McLeod to make it 5-0. It was the final goal Canada would score, finishing off the strong 5-0 victory over Slovakia.

Canada’s will get their first break of the tournament on Wednesday before meeting with Russia at 8:00 PM on Thursday. Slovakia will be right back in action on Wednesday, meeting up with USA at 7:30 PM.

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