EDMONTON – Team Canada needed some time to shake off the rust as they embarked on a late summer campaign for gold.
Coming into their first World Junior Hockey Championship game in Edmonton, many on the team hadn’t laced up their skates for a competitive bout in several months.
The away weather showed at times, but Canada held on for a 5-2 win over Latvia to open the tournament on Wednesday.
“I know a manager is never happy with the game, but considering the time of year and where we are in this tournament, I think it was good.” head coach Dave Cameron said.
The 2022 tournament will be held in August after the original iteration was suspended on December 29 after just four days as rising cases of COVID-19 among players and officials forced the forfeiture of matches.
Teenage phenom Connor Bedard hasn’t played a “real game” in three months and said it felt good to be back in competition.
The 17-year-old quickly showed his offensive prowess, opening the scoring in the first period and adding an assist on a second-period power-play goal.
“It always feels good to score, especially the first of the tournament,” said Bedard, an early favorite to finish first in the 2023 NHL draft.
“I think it’s always exciting no matter who gets it. So it definitely felt good. And it was great to go to the corner and see some fans.”
Ridly Greig and William Dufour each had a goal and an assist for Canada (1-0-0), while Lukas Cormier and Olen Zellweger also scored. Captain Mason McTavish had two assists.
Rainers Darzins and Bogdans Hodass scored the goals for the Latvians, who were coming off a 6-1 one-goal rout of Finland on Tuesday.
Canadian Sebastian Cossa made 22 saves and Patriks Berzins stopped 39 of 44 shots for Latvia (0-2-0).
The Canadians broke out with a three-goal performance in the second, but ran into trouble in the final stretch due to a series of undisciplined penalties.
Latvia went five-on-three nine seconds into the game midway through the third when Greig was called for hooking after Kent Johnson had already been sent to the box for delay of game.
The Canadians held out with two men down and Cossa preserved the lead with a collection of timely saves.
Earlier in the period, Latvia cut the deficit to 4-2 on a power play after Greig was called for hooking.
Just four seconds into the man advantage, Hodas, a Medicine Hat Tigers defenseman, ripped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, sailing the puck over Cossa’s pad.
Dufour gave the Canadians a bit of a lead with 5:16 left in the third period. The New York Islanders prospect picked off a slick pass from Greig and sent a quick shot past Berzins to give his team a 5-2 lead.
Greig capped a big center frame by picking off a pass from Dufour along the boards for a freak run and up the ice, using an arm to hold off Latvia’s Peteris Purmalis. With his free hand, the Ottawa Senators prospect put the puck past Berzins at 17:16 to give Canada a 4-1 lead.
“It was a pretty lucky bounce,” Greig said. “And the tracker was right on me, so I just tried to put it in the net with one (hand).”
A power-play goal gave the Canadians a three-goal lead after Latvia captain Ralfs Bergmanis was called for a cut.
Bedard set up the play with a no-look pass to Zellweger at the blue line. The defenseman finished and launched a rocket through traffic, finding the back of the net at 16:17 of the second.
Minutes earlier, Cormier scored with the man advantage after Dans Locmelis was called for holding.
Joshua Roy smothered a puck and dished it to Cormier, who flicked it past Berzins from the top of the faceoff circle.
Canada’s power play looked to be in trouble on their first try of the tournament early in the period.
The man advantage saw Cossa almost send a puck into his own net as he tried to clear and Johnson came inches from scoring an own goal. The host nation turned the puck over several times and Latvia registered a couple of short shots.
“This was just to give the fans their money’s worth,” Cameron said.
“That was when we were in their zone for a five-on-five period of time and we thought that was going to carry over to the power play and we got too comfortable and thought it was going to be easy.
“We got stuck in our execution and hats off to Latvia, they didn’t give up.”
The Canadians were 2-for-4 on the power play Wednesday and Latvia was 1-for-5.
Canada kept Berzins busy in the first period, outscoring Latvia 18-4.
The host nation dominated play, but Latvia equalized with less than two minutes to play in the opening frame. Darzins fired a shot over the side of Cossa’s post to make it 1-1.
Bedard opened the scoring 7:31 into the game, blasting a shot through a pair of Latvian defenders and over Berzins’ glove from the top of the slot.
With a different roster than at the December tournament and a short training camp, Canada is still trying to build chemistry as the world juniors begin, Cossa said.
“We’ve been practicing, but nothing is really game speed,” he said. “So it was nice to come into the game now and fix things coming here, practice and get ready for the rest of the games.”
Earlier Wednesday, Winnipeg Jets prospect Daniel Torgersson scored twice as Sweden (1-0-0) beat Switzerland (0-1-0) 3-2 in Group B.
In the final game of the day, Germany (1-0-1) defeated Austria (0-0-1) 4-2 for their first win of the tournament.
The Canadians will continue the back-and-forth action on Thursday when they face Slovakia (0-0-1).
NOTES: Greig turned 20 on Monday. The world juniors are a showcase for the best under-20 players from around the world, but the International Ice Hockey Federation has allowed athletes born in 2002 who are already 20 years old to play in this summer’s championship. … Cossa was playing on familiar ice, having helped the Edmonton Oil Kings to a WHL championship in June. … Canada’s goal song is “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 10, 2022.