World Juniors: the end of Canada’s “curse” against the United States?

Can the Canadian team get rid of its “curse” in time for its duel against the Americans? There remain several questions surrounding the most anticipated match since the start of the World Championship in Ottawa, the day before New Year’s Day.

Canada’s 3-0 victory against Germany on Sunday evening did not erase all doubts about the offensive production of the representatives of the maple leaf, who had scored only two goals in a surprising defeat against Latvia .

People are going to look at this and say these aren’t great scores, but to be honest, these are very good teams.said Mathieu Catafort, who scored against the Germans in an empty net. We forget the outside noise and we just focus on our group, we have confidence with the talent we have to beat anyone.

We are victims of a curserepeated Dave Cameron five times on Monday, on the sidelines of the day off that he granted to his players. The head coach had made the same comments the day before, after the victory against Germany.

That’s the most exciting part of this team: we didn’t break. Not every team could survive a curse like that and the bad press because we lost a game and blah blah blah… Staying the course shows charactercontinued the pilot.

Cameron firmly believes his players are doing the right thing to achieve success offensively and that the tide will turn in time to face the defending champions, the United States, on Tuesday.

Canada can count on the best goalie in the tournament. Carter George did not concede in two games, after stopping 56 shots.

A classic holiday duel

A duel between Canada and the United States on New Year’s Eve is a World Junior classic that every player on the Canadian team dreamed of participating in growing up.

Gavin McKenna was eight years old the last time the great rivals faced each other on December 31, in 2016.

These matches are always intense, it’s never easy for anyone. It always keeps us on the edge of our seatsmentioned the 17-year-old sensation, author of a goal since the start of the tournament.

I’m living a childhood dream right now and it’s going to be the icing on the sundae, the game against the United Statesadded Drummondville Voltigeurs forward Ethan Gauthier.

To add to the rivalry, the winner of the matchup will finish atop Group A, due to the Americans’ overtime loss to Finland.

The United States prepared to face the crowd

The crowd in Ottawa was responsible for making the United States feel that they were not the favorites in the Canadian capital since the start of the tournament.

Gabriel Perreault remembers experiencing a similar situation last year, in Sweden, when he wore the American jersey.

We can use it as motivationexplained in French the son of former National Hockey League player, Yanic Perreault. He will surely have even more red jerseys in the stands. It’s sure to be a good game with lots of atmosphere and hotly contested.

The New York Rangers forward believes his team needs to reduce turnovers and improve neutral zone control to hope to beat Canada, which has yet to allow a goal at five-on-five.