Canada Holds on To Start World Championships With a Win

Canada's bid for their third straight gold medal at the World Hockey Championships began with a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic on Friday evening.

The Czech's controlled the first few minutes of play, taking the first four shots of the contest. But at 6:09, the Canadians struck first. Mark Scheifele found a dump in from Tyson Barrie on the end boards and made a nice little deke to beat out a defender. Scheifele centered a perfect feed to Ryan O'Reilly in front, with the Sabres forward scoring his eighth goal in World Championship competition to make it 1-0 Canada.

Similar to the game in Germany earlier in the day between Russia and Sweden, the goaltending was spectacular by both Petr Mrazek and Calvin Pickard. The best save of the game came from Mrazek on a two-on-one opportunity, with Travis Konecny getting fed from a no-look pass by Mitch Marner. Konecny one-timed the shot on net, but Mrazek dived across and got the puck with his blocker to send the puck away.

Canada didn't need long in the second period to add to their lead. Playing with the power play just 55 seconds in, reigning top defenseman at the World Championships, Michael Matheson, fired the puck past Mrazek's glove and in from the point to make it 2-0 for Canada. 

Canada looked to be ready to take the victory heading into the final ten minutes but the Czech's scored one of their own to bring things close again. At 12:41 in the third, Jan Kovar shot the puck in front, only to get completely robbed by Pickard. Lukas Radil was at the doorstep ready to convert on the goal and did just that, knocking it out of the air to beat Pickard.

The Czech's were hoping to get back into the contest, but Canada would score next to steal any of their thunder. At 14:50, Konecny rushed around the net with the puck and found Barrie. Barrie's one time would beat Mrazek on a saveable chance, restoring Canada's two-goal lead. Jeff Skinner would score an empty netter in the final minute to help finish off Canada's 4-1 win to open the tournament on Friday.

The Czech's won't get much time to rest as they'll face off against Belarus at 16:15 local time in France. Canada will play in the early game on Sunday, with puck drop against Slovenia set for 12:15.

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