Sam Steel scored early, setting the tone for a convincing 6-0 Canada win over Slovakia.Three goals came off rebounds.
The result couldn’t have ben a surprise given that Canada has never lost to Slovakia in 20 years of U20 play. The record is now 12 wins and a tie, and that small sign of life from Slovakia was only a scoreless draw in 1998.
Tonight, Canada showed great speed and puck pursuit, using superior speed and strength to claim most of the loose pucks and maintain possession.
Steel’s opening marker came off a deflected pass in the slot. The puck wound up on his stick with goalie David Hrenak looking for a shot the other way. Steel had an open net, which he hit, at 3:39.
There was a scary moment midway through the period when Canadian defenceman Jake Bean went back for a puck on the end boards. He got tangled with Slovakian forward Marian Studenic. The pair crashed into the boards, Bean’s head absorbing most of the force. After several minutes he left of his own accord but didn’t return for the rest of the period as a cautionary measure.
Canada poured it on in the second. Jordan Kyrou made a sneaky deke on Erik Smolka in the slot before beating Hrenak with a nice shot at 1:24 on the power play, and Jonah Gadjovich backhanded a juicy rebound into the net to make it 3-0 at 5:43.
Taylor Raddysh got to another rebound at 10:33 to put the game out of reach, frustrating the Slovak goaltender who didn’t get much help from his defence.
Raddysh and Gadjovich closed out the scoring late in the third off great plays. In the former, Adam Ruzicka lost the puck deep in his end, and Raddysh colected the loose puck and roofed a backhand to the short side over Hrenak's glove for a gem of a score.
Then Michael McLeod made a great backhand saucer pass from the left wing boards which Gadjovich tipped high from in front at 18:30 to close out the scoring.
ANDREW PODNIEKS
The result couldn’t have ben a surprise given that Canada has never lost to Slovakia in 20 years of U20 play. The record is now 12 wins and a tie, and that small sign of life from Slovakia was only a scoreless draw in 1998.
Tonight, Canada showed great speed and puck pursuit, using superior speed and strength to claim most of the loose pucks and maintain possession.
Steel’s opening marker came off a deflected pass in the slot. The puck wound up on his stick with goalie David Hrenak looking for a shot the other way. Steel had an open net, which he hit, at 3:39.
There was a scary moment midway through the period when Canadian defenceman Jake Bean went back for a puck on the end boards. He got tangled with Slovakian forward Marian Studenic. The pair crashed into the boards, Bean’s head absorbing most of the force. After several minutes he left of his own accord but didn’t return for the rest of the period as a cautionary measure.
Canada poured it on in the second. Jordan Kyrou made a sneaky deke on Erik Smolka in the slot before beating Hrenak with a nice shot at 1:24 on the power play, and Jonah Gadjovich backhanded a juicy rebound into the net to make it 3-0 at 5:43.
Taylor Raddysh got to another rebound at 10:33 to put the game out of reach, frustrating the Slovak goaltender who didn’t get much help from his defence.
Raddysh and Gadjovich closed out the scoring late in the third off great plays. In the former, Adam Ruzicka lost the puck deep in his end, and Raddysh colected the loose puck and roofed a backhand to the short side over Hrenak's glove for a gem of a score.
Then Michael McLeod made a great backhand saucer pass from the left wing boards which Gadjovich tipped high from in front at 18:30 to close out the scoring.
ANDREW PODNIEKS