Takeaways from Canada's shutout win that sets up showdown with U.S.A for first place finish

Published Dec 30, 2024  •  4 minute read

Canadian goalkeeper Carter George makes a skate save on a Heikki Ruohonen breakaway during the second period against Finland. George posted a shutout in that Boxing Day game and again Monday against Germany in the World Juniors Photo by Adrian Wyld /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Team Canada might not be trampling opponents like some people expected, but heading into a New Year’s Eve clash with the defending gold medals winner Americans the two teams are tied atop the Group A standings at the world junior championship.

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The winner of Tuesday’s game will take first place and face the lowest advancing seed, the fourth-place finishers, on the B side in the quarter-finals.

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How big is that?

The sole purpose of the preliminary round is to set yourself up with the easiest path possible in the playoffs.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

Against a German team it had defeated in 26 of their previous 27 meetings, Canada held a slim 1-0 lead on a first-period goal by Oliver Bonk until Caden Price provided a cushion with 4:58 left in the third.

Mathieu Cataford iced the win with an empty netter three seconds from the buzzer, while Carter George stopped 25 shots for his second shutout in two tournament starts.

In between the 3-0 victory over Germany and the 4-0 win over Finland, Canada suffered a shocking 3-2 loss to Latvia.

No more than one goal separated the combating teams through 54 minutes of all three games played.

That’s good for fans who like to sit on the edge of their seats, but not so much for those trying to kick fingernail-biting habits.

“You need different clubs in your bag to win this tournament, you’ve got to find different ways,” said Canada coach Dave Cameron. “And right now, our defence and our goaltending are leading the pack with the clubs we are using. The offence in this group is going to get going and that will take some of the pressure off and add to our emotional level.”

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We appreciate analogies from Cameron, we do, but golf clubs are usually what hockey players grab when they put their hockey sticks away for the season.

If Canada isn’t still playing in the last game of this tournament, most hockey lovers of the 40 million people in this country – none more than themselves – will be extremely disappointed.

King George stands tall

Goalie Carter George has two souvenir paddles presented by the IIHF to the player of the game on each team after stopping the combined 56 shots he has faced from Finland and Germany.

While he was at his best in the third period against Finland, when he kicked away all 20 shots that came his way, the Germans had 25 shots on goal  – including nine in the first and second periods, and seven in the third.

So calm and cool was George on Sunday that he even attempted to score a goal when the Germans pulled their ‘tender for an extra attacker – a feat he successfully completed in November when his OHL team, the Owen Sound Attack, defeated the Peterborough Petes.

“I was a little ways off,” he said with a laugh of his shot at history. “I’m not sure if it was the placement (of the puck) or I just fanned on it … but I had to apologize to the guys for making them skate all the way down there on that icing.

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“It’s pretty cool,” he replied when asked about posting two straight goose eggs at the World Juniors. “I just want to be able to go out there and do my part to help get this team a win. We all pitch into the system, and our D-core, has been unbelievable in this tournament, keeping stuff to the perimeter. So I’ve got to thank them a lot for it.”

George said he’s feeling confident and trying to stay in the moment – which is about to get much bigger heading into the U.S. and the playoff round.

If he suddenly becomes less than perfect, that third club is going to have to pick him up.

Speaking of which …

FIRING BLANKS

Of the nine goals scored by Canada, three have come from defencemen, including the Bonk and Price goals on Sunday.

It’s great to get contributions from the backend, but that ratio has to change.

Discounting two-empty netters, Easton Cowan, Calum Ritchie, Gavin McKenna, Luca Pinelli and Jett Luchanko are the only forwards that have beaten a goalie.

Ritchie’s goal was on the power play and Luchanko’s was a shorthanded effort, which means Canada has only three even-strength goals in three games from its centres and wingers.

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Price, a blue liner, is the only Canadian to score an even-strength goal in the last six periods and a five-minute overtime.

“I don’t know, it’s weird,” Berkly Catton, an eight overall pick of the Seattle Kraken last June and a guy who scored 54 goasl for the Spokane Chiefs last seaos, said of the 5-on-5 struggles. “Postsposts and goalies making great saves. I don’t know, it’s probably on us a little bit, not hitting our spots, but I think we’re playing the right way, we’re generating lots. Now it’s just on us to put it home. I think it’s going to come, and once we get maybe one or two, it’s just going to start opening and flooding.”

It better. The competition gets tougher starting with the Americans on Tuesday.’

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