Now Millar -- who works as a member of the management group for the Hockey Canada U20 program -- and his charges will look to keep things going when they take the ice against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals later this evening (6 p.m. TSN1).
Millar will be plenty familiar with one of the players in the Czech line-up: Warriors forward Martin Lang has turned in a solid showing throughout the event while playing on the top line. He’ll have to be at the top of his game to deal with Canada, though, especially with how things have gone as the tournament has progressed.
Canada closed out the round robin on New Year’s Eve with a slick 4-1 win over Finland, a contest that saw the host team carry the play much of the contest -- outshooting Finland 17-1 in the first period and 18-6 in the second.
“They're a real strong opponent but we played our best game so far,” said team captain Dylan Cozens on TSN.ca after his two-goal performance. “We reloaded hard on pucks and they had a tough time getting out of their zone, that was all because of our track.”
Dylan Holloway and Peyton Krebs also scored for Canada, while Devon Levi had another less-than-busy game in net with 19 saves. In fact, Brad Lambert’s goal five minutes into the third was the only marker Levi had given up in more than 106 minutes of play, going back into their 3-1 win over Slovakia and 10-0 win over Switzerland. Canada opened the tournament with a 16-0 win over Germany, who were remarkably shorthanded due to a COVID-19 outbreak, but would come back to make the playoffs and nearly upset Russia in the quarter-final before falling 2-1.
Cozens -- the Lethbridge Hurricanes standout and Buffalo Sabres first rounder dubbed the ‘Workhorse from Whitehorse’ by the TSN announcing crew -- led Canada in scoring through the round robin with six goals and 11 points through the round robin, while Levi was the tournament’s top goaltender with a 95.1 save percentage and 0.82 goals against average.
Lang led the Czech Republic with a goal and four points in four games; Nick Malik started three games and posted a 3.27 GAA to go along with an 87.9 save percentage.
While the Czechs pulled the upset of the tournament in the round robin with a 2-0 victory over Russia, Canada’s Peyton Krebs of the Winnipeg Ice doesn’t expect his squad will change much in their approach to the contest.
“I think, honestly, it’s the same as any game,” Krebs said on TSN.ca. “We’re coming in to win and we can’t take the Czechs lightly for sure. Everything matters now, and it’s going to be a lot of fun these next few games and obviously (tonight) is going to be a really big game.”
