EDMONTON — Canada scored three unanswered goals in the first period, including one on the power play, and defeated Sweden 4-3 on Monday in the final exhibition tune-up before Tuesday’s opener of the 2022 world junior hockey championship rescheduled in Rogers. place
Nathan Gaucher, Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson and Joshua Roy scored for the Canadians who led 3-1 after 40 minutes but had to fend off a spirited comeback by Sweden in the third period.
Theodor Niederbach, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and William Wallinder scored for Sweden, which lost a 2-1 overtime decision to Finland in an exhibition trip on August 4. This was Canada’s only pre-tournament test.
Canada beat Sweden 30-26 and went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Sweden was 0-5 on the power play.
Dyland Garand started in net for Canada and stopped all 15 shots he faced. He was replaced by Sebastian Cossa at 9:21 of the second period, who stopped eight of 11 shots.
Canada opens its tournament on Wednesday with a game against Latvia, while Sweden opens its tournament against Switzerland, also on Wednesday.
The first attempt at the world junior hockey championship was interrupted in December due to the spread of COVID-19. This restart at Rogers Place has 10 U20 teams ready to fight for the coveted medals.
POKE CHECKS: The world juniors, who play every game at Rogers Place, open Tuesday with three games. Slovakia plays the Czech Republic in the first game, followed by Finland against Latvia and Germany against the United States.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 8, 2022.