World Juniors Recap: Canada 16, Germany 2

GAME STATS: Canada 16, Germany 2

EDMONTON, Alta. – Dylan Cozens (Whitehorse, Y.T./Lethbridge, WHL) led the way with a hat trick and three assists, Dawson Mercer (Bay Roberts, N.L./Chicoutimi, LHJMQ) added two goals and two helpers, and Canada’s National Junior Team flexed its offensive muscle in a 16-2 win over Germany to open its 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship on Saturday night.

The Canadians got goals from 10 different players and points from 17 of their 20 skaters as they racked up their biggest goal total since blanking Latvia 16-0 on Boxing Day 2009.

“I do not know if I have been in such a high-scoring game,” said Canadian head coach André Tourigny (Nicolet, Que./Ottawa, OHL). “I give a lot of credit to the Germans, they were in a tough situation with [nine players still quarantined due to COVID-19] and two games in 24 hours against two tough countries. They fought hard; in the first period, we got lucky on a couple of goals and if you take those two goals away, they had a pretty good first period. Credit to them, they fought hard.”

Among multi-point scorers, Peyton Krebs (Okotoks, Alta./Winnipeg, WHL), Philip Tomasino (Mississauga, Ont./Oshawa, OHL) and Alex Newhook (St. John’s, N.L./Boston College, HE) finished with two goals and an assist each, Connor McMichael (Ajax, Ont./London, OHL) had a goal and two assists, Cole Perfetti (Whitby, Ont./Saginaw, OHL) recorded three assists and Justin Barron (Halifax, N.S./Halifax, LHJMQ) chipped in with two.

With the loss of captain Kirby Dach (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta./Chicago, NHL) to a tournament-ending wrist injury in the pre-tournament win over Russia, the Canadians experimented with new line combinations, with terrific results.

“In a game like that it’s good to kind of get your confidence boosted with our new linemates,” Cozens said. “You saw with the scoring up and down the line-up, we have a lot of depth on this team, so we’re excited for what’s to come.”

Canada got the scoring started early when Kaiden Guhle (Sherwood Park, Alta./Prince Albert, WHL) found room on the short side to beat German goaltender Arno Tiefensee less than two minutes in, and Mercer made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 7:27, forcing a turnover behind the German net and tucking in a wraparound.

Goaltender Devon Levi (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que./Northeastern University, HE) got himself involved early as well, stretching to his left to absolutely rob German captain Tim Stützle with a toe save.

Germany capitalized on a five-minute power play to get on the board off the stick of John-Jason Peterka, whose shot deflected off a Canadian stick and beat Levi up high just past the 13-minute mark.

It was the first goal allowed by Levi in game action since the start of selection camp; he had gone more than 163 minutes through Red-White competition and the pre-tournament win over Russia on Wednesday without being beaten.

Tomasino needed just 68 seconds to restore the two-goal advantage, catching Tiefensee leaning, and Krebs poked home a loose puck with just 0.2 seconds left in the frame to send Canada to the intermission up 4-1.

Tiefensee gave way to Jonas Gahr to start the second period, and he was under siege from the first drop of the puck.

Mercer got his second of the game 2:40 in, wiring home a feed from Tomasino, Ryan Suzuki (London, Ont./Saginaw, OHL) banged in a feed from Mercer after another turnover by a German goaltender, and Newhook struck twice in just over four minutes to make it an 8-1 game.

Mercer embodied the depth of the Canadian offence; listed as the 13th forward, the 2020 World Juniors gold medallist played up and down the line-up and excelled in every role.

“It’s something I try to do in my game, doing the little things right away from the puck, not always doing the flashy things, but things that can go unnoticed sometimes,” he said of his approach to his role.

When Tomasino, Cozens and Krebs counted in the final seven minutes of the middle stanza, Canada had equalled its record for most goals in a period with seven, last accomplished exactly 31 years ago, in the first period of an 11-0 win over Poland in Kerava, Finland.

Cozens needed less than five minutes of the third period to complete his hat trick, and goals from Jakob Pelletier (Quebec City, Que./Val-d’Or, LHJMQ), Thomas Harley (Jamesville, N.Y./Mississauga, OHL) and McMichael in a span of 3:36 completed the Canadian scoring.

Florian Elias added a consolation goal on a German power play with less than 20 seconds to go.

Levi stopped nine of the 10 shots he faced before giving way to Dylan Garand (Victoria, B.C./Kamloops, WHL) for the third period. Garand turned aside four of five in his 20 minutes of work.

Canada gets right back to work Sunday when it takes on Slovakia (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT).