Well recovered from its awkward performance the day before, Canada showed a much better face against Germany at the World Under-18 Hockey Championship by winning 8-0 on Friday in Porrentruy, Switzerland.
In its second game of the preliminary round, the maple leaf had the heavy mandate to make people forget their bitter 8-0 loss against Sweden. After this unusual outing, the Canadians reassured their coach Jeff Truitt.
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This tournament represents one of the last opportunities for some good prospects in the upcoming National Hockey League draft to impress. Matthew Wood, who is in the top 5 of North American skaters according to Central Scouting, stood out with two goals.
Callum Ritchie and Nick Lardis (three times), two other players who could hear their names in the first round, also scored, but it was defender Lukas Dragicevic who scored the game’s best goal. The Tri-City Americans defenseman raced across the rink to beat goaltender Leon Willerscheid with a good shot.
“It’s good for the team to have won the game, but the tournament is far from over. Everyone here is gifted offensively, we have good striking power and a lot of players blacked the scoresheet today [vendredi], Wood said in a statement. It’s very good for the confidence of the team, we will do everything to keep it going.”
“The game was important for our group. After yesterday’s failure, we had to look forward and find the right path. I think we were really dynamic in the forecheck and we played very well defensively. When we manage to do that, it generates a lot of chances for us in the offensive zone, considered Lardis. So we have to keep working in that direction.”
Caretaker little busy
Quebec goalkeeper Gabriel D’Aigle once again started the game as a substitute, having entered the game the day before after the defeat of Carson Bjarnason. It was the latter who gained the confidence of Truitt and he blocked 11 shots to blank the Germans.
Canada will have the day off before taking on Slovakia on Sunday.