Canada Crushes Switzerland to Close Out WJC Pre-Tournament

Canada has swept their pre-tournament schedule thanks to a 8-1 victory over Switzerland on Friday night at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario.

It took just four minutes for Canada to find the back of the net first. The team has been applauded for their ability to make tape-to-tape passes, and Josh Mahura would put that on showcase after sending the puck to Jordan Kyrou at the side of the net. Kyrou, who has been one of Canada’s best offensive players in the pre-tournament, would make it 1-0 after just knocking it in to the left of Philip Wuthrich, giving Canada the icebreaker after just 3:43 of play..

At 7:33 in the first, Canada would do it again. This time, Tyler Steenbergen would tap in the puck in a wild scramble, capitalizing on the play that was started by Cale Makar. Michael McLeod would touch the puck on the play, but Steenbergen was in the ideal spot to tip the puck in for the 2-0 goal.

The Swiss had a good chance to score on a breakaway opportunity, but Colton Point did a good job of giving little room to shoot, with the puck bouncing off the post. Sam Steel would take the puck back the other way, rushing into the zone before wrapping around the net. Instead of shooting, Steel sent it out to Dillon Dube in front, with Dube one-timing it into the net at 2:39.

About two minutes later, Switzerland scored on a weird bounce. Point would allow his first goal of the game after Guillaume Maillard’s shot bounced off a defender in front and flew overtop of Point, giving Switzerland their first goal of the game.

Canada would score two more back-to back goals to take the 5-1 lead. At 8:15, Jake Bean would convert Drake Batherson's pass into a blister of a wrister, sneaking one into the Swiss net. Two minutes later, Batherson got one of his own, redirecting a shot originally taken by Mahura to make it 5-1, putting Canada farther into the lead.

Dube, who returned from injury to play his first pre-tournament game since leaving training camp in St. Catharines, would get his second of the night late in the middle stanza. Dube would score at 18:08 after taking Kyrou's pass and blasting a shot past Wurthrich to make it 6-1 by the time the second intermission hit, a game the Swiss struggled to create any offense in.

Canada was on the edge of scoring more goals than the Swiss had shots in the game before the end of the second, but they would beat that by the ninth minute of the third, With Matteo Ritz now in net for the Swiss, Steenbergen would get his second of the night at 7:35, an impressive feat for the 13th forward.

Two minutes later, Kale Clague gave Canada their eighth goal on their 49th shot. Clague’s wrist shot was too much for Ritz, who was getting no defensive support. In fact, Switzerland went a period and a half without taking a shot on net, allowing Canada to leave with the 8-1 victory.

Canada's pre-tournament has come to a close, with Canada heading off to Buffalo in the coming days. They will meet up with Finland on Boxing Day at 4:00 PM ET time, with hopes of besting their silver medal performance a year ago.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Photos from Anders Marshall/Euro Hockey

 

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