With all the hype Team Sweden had coming into the World Junior Hockey Championship as one of the pre-tournament favourites, it was a certainty that their game against Canada on Friday afternoon would be a major litmus test.
And now we know they’re exactly as advertised,
Team Canada -- including Moose Jaw Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk and forward Brayden Yager --- had all sorts of chances but couldn’t find a way to score on their way to dropping a 2-0 decision to the tournament hosts in Gothenburg.
Hugo Havelid stopped all 24 shots he faced, including three breakaways, to run his shutout streak to three games as Sweden has yet to allow a goal in the tournament.
Mateychuk entered the game as Canada’s leader in ice time with 23:53 per game through the first two contests, and he led the tournament in defenceman assists with three in addition to being tied for first in tournament plus-minus.
Mateychuk once again played on the top defensive pairing alongside Maveric Lamoureux (QMJHL Drummondville) while Yager also saw no changes starting on his line with Macklin Celebrini (Boston U) and Carson Rehkopf (OHL Kitchener).
The game got off to a torrid start with all sorts of end-to-end action, and Celebrini had the best chance in the opening 10 minutes when a turnover at the blueline sent the 17-year-old in on a partial breakaway that would be stopped.
Not long after, Canada momentarily received bad news and the Moose Jaw Warriors even worse when Mateychuk left the bench for treatment of an apparent injury. Fortunately, the Warriors captain returned before the period was out.
Rehkopf had another chance to score on a breakaway with eight minutes to play in the period and tried to go five-hole on Sweden goaltender Hugo Havelid, but he’d again make the save to preserve the scoreless tie.
Sweden had the first prolonged opportunity to take the lead when Fraser Minten (WHL Saskatoon) took a high-sticking double minor with six minutes to play in the first, but Mathis Rousseau (QMJHL Halifax) would make an unbelievable cross-crease toe save on Liam Ohgren to keep things scoreless.
Canada’s penalty killing was on point the whole four minutes, as they were able to hold Sweden to only two shots.
There was little Rousseau could do on Sweden’s first goal 1:53 into the second.
Theo Lindstein forced a turnover along the boards and found Tom Willander open in the high slot, and with a Canadian defender completely screening Rousseau, Willander would put a shot top shelf blocker side.
Canada had a couple of chances to get on the board as the period progressed, but after a string of pressure and shortly after another miraculous save by Rousseau, Sweden made it 2-0.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki barely kept the puck in the zone before getting off a shot from the point that deflected in front right to Noah Ostlund, who had a wide-open net to tuck the puck in with 10:39 gone.
Moments after that goal, Matt Savoie went in on Canada’s third breakaway of the game and had Havelid beat, only for the puck to roll off his stick at the last second.
Canada received their first power play of the game with just over 12 minutes to play and had a single shot in addition to Celebrini putting a cross-ice one-timer off the post. That shot was also Canada’s first of the period.
An apparent hit from behind on Owen Beck led to Sweden taking a major penalty with seven minutes remaining, but after a lengthy review, no penalty was called.
Canada did receive a power play that stuck moments later but once again only managed a single shot.
A bizarre two-many men penalty when Rousseau attempted to return to the ice after being pulled for the extra attacker brought an end to any chance of a Canada comeback.
The shutout was the first time Canada had been blanked at the World Juniors since their 2-0 loss to the U.S. in the 2021 gold medal game.
The time Mateychuk spent getting checked out in the Canada dressing room saw his ice time drop to second most on the team, as he had 26 shifts for 22:51 on ice. Yager took 14 shifts and played 11:52.
Canada is comfortably in second place in their pool and will take on Germany in their final game of the round robin on Sunday afternoon, with puck drop at 12:30 p.m. Moose Jaw time.
