🇨🇦 Canada 8-1 Czechia 🇨🇿
World Junior Championship Prelininary Round
Scotiabank Place, Ottawa 🇨🇦
Friday, 26 December 2008

Canada’s drive for a fifth straight IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal got off to a roaring start Friday night, as John Tavares scored twice and added an assist in an 8-1 victory over the Czech Republic in front of a tournament-record 19,622 fans at SBP Arena.

Angelo Esposito, Ryan Ellis, Tyler Ennis, Chris DiDomenico, Zach Boychuk and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the home side, which rebounded from a slow start to score seven times in the final 40 minutes and outshoot the Czechs 37-22.

Dustin Tokarski didn’t have much work between the pipes for the Canadians, making 21 saves, but was sharp in the opening period with the game still scoreless. Jan Káňa broke Tokarski’s shutout bid with less than three minutes to go, surprising the Canadian netminder with a wrist shot from the slot.

After a number of close calls in the first period Tavares put the Canadians on the board in the dying seconds of the frame, sidestepping a Czech defender and snapping a perfect shot over the shoulder of Tomáš Vošvrda.

It was Tavares at work again early in the second, as he converted on another Canadian power play to double the lead and then stripped a Czech player and fed Esposito for a 3-0 lead.

Ellis scored off a scramble in front of the Czech net just 65 seconds later, and Ennis’ goal five minutes after that made it 5-0 and chased Vošvrda, who was replaced by Dominik Furch.

DiDomenico, Boychuk and Pietrangelo had third-period goals for Canada, while Káňa rounded out the scoring late.

Not surprisingly, Tavares earned Player of the Game honours for his three-point effort.

“I approach every game the same way,” said Tavares afterwards. “I just want to create opportunities. I want to make sure the coaching staff has confidence in me.”

Mission accomplished.

“He has been great,” said Canadian head coach Pat Quinn. “Tonight he had that extra touch.”

The Canadian squad honoured the memory of the late Luc Bourdon, wearing ‘LB’ stickers on the backs of their helmets during the game. In addition, it was announced that no one will wear Bourdon’s #6 jersey at this year’s World Juniors.

Bourdon, who won Gold with Canada’s National Junior Team in 2006 and 2007, passed away as a result of a motorcycle accident in May.

Canada will return to the ice at SBP Arena on Sunday afternoon, taking on Kazakhstan.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
00:58 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Hodgson, hooking
05:41 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Dóczy, tripping
13:06 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Subban, slashing
19:38 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Dóczy, holding
19:56 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Tavares (Eberle, Ellis)

2nd Period
21:25 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Štich, holding
22:09 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Tavares (Eberle, Hodgson)
27:08 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Esposito (Tavares)
28:13 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Ellis (Boychuk, Hodgson)
33:33 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Ennis (Sonne)
36:46 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Parýzek, holding
39:50 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Okal, high sticking

3rd Period
42:08 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – DiDomenico (Ennis, Boychuk)
45:30 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Goloubef, interference
48:18 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Boychuk
51:51 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Pietrangelo (Ellis, DiDomenico)
58:00 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Káňa (Roman)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇦 Tokarski (21-22)
L: 🇨🇿 Vošvrda (17-22), Furch (12-15)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 10+16+11 = 37
🇨🇿 4+9+9 = 22

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Chet Pickard, Dustin Tokarski. Defence: Keith Aulie, Ryan Ellis, Cody Goloubef, Thomas Hickey, Tyler Myers, Alex Pietrangelo, P.K. Subban, Colten Teubert. Forwards: Jamie Benn, Zach Boychuk, Patrice Cormier, Stefan Della Rovere, Chris DiDomenico, Jordan Eberle, Tyler Ennis, Angelo Esposito, Cody Hodgson, Evander Kane, Brett Sonne, John Tavares.
🇨🇿 Goaltenders: Dominik Furch, Tomáš Vošvrda. Defence: Milan Dóczy, Radko Gudas, Michal Jordán, Tomáš Kundrátek, Martin Parýzek, Jan Piskáček, David Štich. Forwards: Rudolf Červený, Jan Eberle, Jan Káňa, Tomáš Kubalík, Štěpan Novotný, Zdeněk Okal, Ondřej Roman, Vladimír Růžička, Petr Strapáč, Roman Szturc, Radim Valchár, Tomáš Vincour.

Article Credit: Hockey Canada