Alan Letang has seen Junior Team Canada face adversity before. The national team lost its opening match of last year’s tournament 5-2 to the Czech Republic on Canadian soil before rebounding to win its third consecutive gold medal.
At that time, Letang was an assistant instructor. Now head coach, he will have to use his experience to get his team back on track after a 2-0 defeat against Sweden on Friday.
Hugo Havelid made 21 saves to shut out the Canadians, who were never able to pull themselves together after a difficult first period.
“If we thought we weren’t going to be challenged in this tournament and that we weren’t going to face adversity, we would be quite naive,” said Letang. Our confidence has not changed. She was not shaken. »
The pilot also indicated that some of his players will have to do more.
“They need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they have done enough,” he said.
Unlike last year, however, Canada cannot count on the generational talent of Connor Bedard nor on several other players eligible to participate who are instead in the fold of a National Hockey League (NHL) team when things go wrong.
“We play too much individually, we rely too much on our talent,” said Quebecer Mathis Rousseau, who made 22 saves in his third start. We had difficulty reaching the slot since too many players tried to go one on one. »
Tom Willander and Noah Ostlund scored for the host team, which secured first place in Group A with three shutouts in as many outings. Theo Lindstein had two assists.
Canada is second in the group with six points in three games. Some 3,500 Canadians traveled to watch this match.
“Fantastic,” Willander, whose rights are owned by the Vancouver Canucks, said of the atmosphere. A good team that we beat too. »
Rousseau, who was passed over in the last two NHL drafts, did his best to keep Canada in the game. Like Rousseau, Havelid was never drafted and is considered small by current NHL goalie standards.
“The important matches are still ahead of us,” said Havelid. We can’t believe we’re too good. »
Sweden opened the scoring 1:53 into the second period. Boston Bruins prospect Matthew Poitras was unable to clear his territory and Willander recovered the puck. The Canucks selection took a shot that beat Rousseau, while defenseman Noah Warren hid his view.
Rousseau made a nice save against Jonathan Lekkerimaki, but the play continued and Ostlund scored on a rebound at 10:39 of play.
Macklin Celebrini hit the post in the third period, during Canada’s first power play.
The Canadians will face the Germans on Sunday in their final match of the preliminary round.