Things went pretty much as expected for Team Canada against Latvia at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Wednesday afternoon.
Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Denton Mateychuk and forward Brayden Yager each had two points as Canada rolled to a 10-0 victory in their second game of the tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden.
As the score would indicate, there were few concerns for eventual victors, as they took a 2-0 lead out of the first period and led 5-0 through two before pouring in five in the final frame.
Nothing changed in the line-up for Canada when it came to the Warriors, as Mateychuk played on the top defence pairing with Maveric Lamoureux (QMJHL Drummondville) while Yager suited up alongside Macklin Celebrini (Boston U) and Carson Rehkopf (OHL Kitchener)
After a short feeling out process, Canada received their first power play just over five minutes into the game and five seconds later, they had a 1-0 lead.
Mateychuk picked up the first assist after taking a pass off the face face-off from Celebrini and sending the puck across to Connor Geekie (WHL Wenatchee), who ripped a shot top shelf from the right faceoff circle at the 5:19 mark.
The game was delayed close to 10 minutes shortly after the goal, as Canada’s Owen Beck (OHL Peterborough) was initially judged to have take a kneeing major on an open-ice hit, but after a lengthy referee review, no penalty was called.
Not long after that situation was resolved, Brayden Yager scored his first goal as a member of Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The 18-year-old took a feed to the top of the circles from Celebrini after a stellar rush up ice and beat Latvia’s Linards Feldbergs with a shot low glove side with 7:11 gone in the opening frame.
The news wasn’t as good for Yager shortly after that goal as he took a tripping minor for his first penalty of the tournament and came within inches of taking a skate to the face in the process.
Penalties started to add up for Latvia as the game progressed, leading to Canada’s third goal early in the second period.
Allard got the job done, tipping a point shot by Oliver Bonk (OHL London) past Feldbergs 1:17 into the frame.
Carson Rehkopf (OHL Kitchener) then made it 4-0 at the 4:46 mark with a nifty solo effort as he broke into the Latvia zone, drove wide around a defenceman and tucked the puck around Feldbergs.
Mateychuk picked up his second assist of the game on Canada’s fifth goal, earning the second helper when Celebrini scored at 10:56 of the second.
As well as things were going through two periods, Canada’s offence hit high gear in the first seven minutes of the third.
Fraser Minten (WHL Saskatoon) got things going at 2:14, followed by Matthew Wood (U Conn) at 3:51, Geekie at 5:43 and Rehkopf at 6:18, and just like that Canada had strung together a 9-0 lead.
Yager then picked up his second point of the game with 9:03 to play, setting up Matthew Poitras (NHL Boston) as Canada hit double digits on the scoreboard.
All told, Yager’s line combined for nine points, five of those going to Celebrini with a goal and five points. Yager capped his night with 16 shifts for 12:05 of ice time while going plus-four, while Mateychuk had 27 shifts for 23:44 and was plus two.
Mathis Rousseau stopped all 22 shots he faced to earn the shut out and his second straight win, while Canada had 31 shots on Feldbergs in a two-and-a-half periods and 10 shots on replacement Aksels Ozols.
Team Canada is off Thursday but return to action against host Sweden on Friday afternoon. Game time is 12:30 p.m. Moose Jaw time and will be on TSN.
