In a tournament that’s being held while everybody should be out golfing, maybe it’s fitting that Team Canada opened the World Junior Hockey Championship with a gimme.
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At least that is what it was supposed to be. But the 18-inch tap in that was Team Latvia wound up rolling around the outside of the cup for a while there, and looked like it might even lip out, before a second half Canadian surge gave them a 5-2 victory at Rogers Place Wednesday.
“Hats off to Latvia,” said head coach Dave Cameron. “They know how they have to play. I thought they played a really solid team game. They were committed to defence and their goalie made some big saves.”
As for the Canadians, they looked very much like players in their first meaningful game in two months.
“We came out a little flat in the first and in the first intermission, but we kind of regrouped and went from there,” said centre Ridly Greig, who delivered the goal of the game in the second period. “It’s been a long summer for some guys, and it’s still August, so maybe give us a break a little bit. Going forward we’re only going to get better from here.”
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That’s the plan. With all of the teams coming into this tournament covered in more rust than a 1960 Lada, the race is on to see which club can find its hands first.
“That’s what this tournament is going to be about,” said Cameron. “Whatever team can figure it out first and get back to mid-season form is going to be the team that comes out with the gold medal.”
Wednesday was the first step on that journey. In a game where people were looking up at the scoreboard five minutes after the opening face-off wondering why Canada wasn’t already up 2-0, it turned out to be a lot tighter in the early going that anyone anticipated.
Yes, Canada took a 1-0 lead at 7:31 on a great shot from 17-year-old Connor Bedard and had a multitude of opportunities to pull away, but they didn’t. Goaltender Patriks Berzins was the best player in the first period, frustrating the heavily-favoured hosts at every turn with a spot-on impression of Latvian legend Arturs Irbe.
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Then, with the shots 17-2 for Canada, Rainers Darzins tied it up for Latvia, clearing the dust off Canadian goaltender Sebastian Cossa with a shot over his right shoulder at 18:06.
And just like that, with the shots 18-4 at the first intermission, it was 1-1.
“They’re a good team, they push and play really smart,” said Bedard. “Going in we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. Give them credit. They have a lot of skilled players over there and it was fun to be in that battle.”
Midway through the second period, it was still 1-1, but only because Latvia missed on a shorthanded breakaway and a three-on-one.
Things were starting to get serious.
“We were just giving the fans their money’s worth,” joked Cameron.
The Canadians finally got things rolling and gave themselves some breathing room with goals from defencemen Lukas Cormier at 11:23 and Olen Zellweger at 16:17. The goals were carbon copies of each other, long distance shots through heavy traffic on the power play that the Latvian goaltender couldn’t even see.
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“Latvia’s plan was to clog,” said Cameron. “You weren’t going to be able to pass anything through, so we wanted to establish a shot and it worked on the power play.”
That seemed to be the only way Canada could beat him until Greig scored a highlight reel special to make it 4-1. Grieg was being tied up by a Latvian defenceman on a partial breakaway, so he slipped a one-handed sleight-of-hand trick through Berzins’ five-hole at 17:16.
“It was sick,” said Bedard. “I didn’t know what he was going to do. He had one had on his stick. That was pretty creative and cool to see it go in.”
And that was that. With the shots 30-9 at the second intermission it was 4-1 Canada.
Latvia closed it to 4-2 on their 12th shot of the game 4:56 into the third period and pressured hard to make things interesting, but William Dufour’s goal at 14:44 quelled the uprising.
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Bedard said a good test right out of the gate is exactly what they need.
“There are no easy games, we know that going in, that you can’t underestimate anyone,” he said. “So it was good for us to compete through that.”
EMPTY SEATS
It was a hugely disappointing night from an attendance perspective. A tournament that normally sees the Canadians playing to sold-out, jacked-up buildings saw a “crowd” of about 2,000 or so for this one. With the upper sections of Rogers Place blocked off by huge black drapes, the lower bowl was about 25 per cent full.
“The people who were here were loud and energetic,” said Bedard. “I’m sure every game there will be more and more people and louder. It was really good that we had some fans here, it really helps us.”
“It was a great crowd,” added Cossa. “Especially for a Wednesday at 4 p.m.”
The Canadians are right back at it Thursday when they take on 1-0 Slovakia.
Twitter.com/rob_tychkowski
