EDMONTON — Mason McTavish didn’t have to pull the Maple Leaf and play in an unusual summer world junior hockey championship.
The 19-year-old forward will return to the Anaheim Ducks next month, the NHL team where he had one goal and two assists in nine appearances last season. Skipping an August tournament to focus on preparing for training camp probably wouldn’t raise eyebrows.
But McTavish has been clear: He loves playing hockey and he loves representing Canada
The dedication paid off on Thursday as the captain scored four goals and provided two assists to power his side to an 11-1 win over Slovakia.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised by his hockey and what he brings to the ice. But what really impresses me is their attitude,” said Canada head coach Dave Cameron.
“He has no ego. He probably had every reason not to come to this tournament, just for the moment. And he’s fully committed. And his performance tonight was outstanding.”
McTavish entered the history books Thursday, tying a Canadian record for most goals in a world junior game.
Other players to accomplish the feat include Mario Lemieux (1984), Brayden Schenn (2011) and Maxime Comtois (2019).
“It’s pretty cool for sure. A special moment,” McTavish said. “Obviously, credit to my teammates. They were looking for me the whole game, I thought.”
McTavish plays a special game, teammate Brennan Othmann said.
“He’s fun to play with,” he said. “He’s an elite scorer, as you can see tonight. No matter what team he’s up against, he always finds the back of the net somehow.”
Nine Canadians had multi-point performances in the win, including McTavish, Joshua Roy (one goal, three assists), Othmann (one goal, two assists), Olen Zellwegger (one goal, one assist), Connor Bedard (one goal, an assistance). assist), Logan Stankoven (one goal, one assist), Will Cuylle (one goal, one assist), Lukas Cormier (two assists) and William Dufour (two assists).
Zack Ostapchuk also scored for Canada (2-0-0), which was coming off a 5-2 tournament-opening win over Latvia on Wednesday.
“We’re deep from our first line to our fourth line,” Othmann said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in or who’s out, everyone contributes in some way.”
Matej Kaslik scored the only goal for Slovakia (0-0-2) midway through the second period.
In his first tournament outing, Canadian Dylan Garand recorded 22 saves.
Tomas Bolo stopped 33 of 44 shots for Slovakia, which dropped a 5-4 decision to the Czech Republic (1-0-1) on Tuesday.
There were only 21 seconds left on the game clock when Ostapchuk buried a shot. He picked up a loose puck at the side of the net and slid it in front, past Bolo to seal the score at 11-1.
Roy extended Canada’s lead to 10-1 at 15:07. Dufour’s shot hit Bolo’s pad and Roy grabbed the rebound at the top of the crease, firing it over the marker as it fell to the ice.
McTavish barely celebrated after finding space between Bolo and the post for his fourth goal of the night 3:44 into the third.
“I’m not the biggest celebrator, unless it’s a seven-OT winner or something,” he said. “I don’t really tend to get too excited.”
McTavish completed his hat trick with 35 seconds left in the middle.
Bedard was hit in the neutral zone and sent a puck up the ice to give his teammates a two-man breakaway. Roy made a clear pass to McTavish’s tape and fired a shot past Bolo to give the Canadians an 8-1 lead.
About a dozen hats floated on the ice.
It was McTavish’s putback from the top of the crease 15:16 into the second that gave Canada a 7-1 cushion.
Just 36 seconds earlier, Slovakia finally beat Garand after a downward battle.
Kaslik caught the puck and unleashed a shot that hit the goalie’s pad and the crossbar on its way into the net.
A three-man breakaway set up McTavish’s first goal of the night at 6:25 of the second. Donovan Sebrango sent him a lead pass and, handling the puck, the Team Canada captain skated in, sending a rocket that rocketed over the side of Bolo’s stick to make it 6-0.
The second period was just over a minute old when Stankoven scored Canada’s fifth goal of the night on a five-on-three.
Kent Johnson sent a shot into Bolo’s deck and Stankoven, standing at the side of the net, made a shot before the goalie could return to his position.
Canada was 1-for-4 on the power play and Slovakia was 0-for-3.
After a slow start in Wednesday’s 5-2 win against Latvia, Canada was a force in the first period on Thursday.
The host nation took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission after Zellweger scored with 43 seconds left in the opening score.
The defender took a shot from the hash marks and the puck appeared to mark another player in front of the net before hitting the post.
Slovakia challenged the play for offside, but a video review determined that Zellweger’s goal was good.
A botched Slovakian cleanup attempt set up Canada’s third strike of the night.
Bolo tried to send the puck in from deep in his own end, but Cuylle scooped it up at the blue line and sent it to Othmann in the face-off circle.
Cuylle gave Canada a 2-0 lead less than three minutes earlier.
Ridly Greig came out of the box and played a pass into the boards to Cuylle, who skated alone on a breakaway and blasted a quick burst through Bolo’s pads.
Slovakia had a break of their own early in the first, but Garand read the play perfectly and the shot deflected off his pads to keep Canada up 1-0.
For the second game in a row, Bedard opened the scoring for the Canadians.
The 17-year-old Regina Pats center dished the puck to McTavish, who cut it back into the slot. Bedard capped the handoff with a blistering shot past Bolo from the bottom of the faceoff circle at 6:16 of the first period.
Thursday’s first game saw Finland (2-0-0) fight off the Czech Republic (1-0-1) to win 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
“During the game we kept improving. And that’s the most important thing,” said Finland head coach Antti Pennanen.
The Czech Republic and Canada will be off on Friday before facing off on Saturday.
The Czechs know they will have to raise their game for the match, forward Jiri Kulich said.
“We just want to keep our game,” he said. “It’s a big challenge, of course, and a big game. So we’re just going to do our best.”
In the last game of the day, the reigning champion North America (2-0-0) earned a convincing 7-1 victory over Switzerland (0-2-0).
On Friday, Austria (0-1-0) will face Sweden (1-0-0) and Slovakia will face Latvia (0-2-0).
NOTES: McTavish leads the tournament in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists). … The preliminary round continues through Monday, with the quarterfinals set for Wednesday. The semifinals are scheduled for August 19 and the medal matches will be played on August 20… The 2022 tournament will be held in August after the original iteration was suspended on December 29 after only four days due to increased cases of COVID-19 among players and referees forced to forfeit matches.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 11, 2022.