OTTAWA – Canada will have to hope that the transition to the new year brings its share of goals and discipline resolutions, otherwise this World Junior Championship could end abruptly.
The United States scored three goals with a man advantage and Dave Cameron’s team’s drought continued in a 4-1 loss on Tuesday. The American rivals have thus taken first place in Group A, and Canada, third, will have a tough meeting with the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.
The same Czech Republic which eliminated him at the same stage of the tournament last year. The Eastern European nation moved into second place in Group B after a 4-2 loss to Sweden.
If one play perfectly sums up the course of this evening, it is the punishment received by forward Easton Cowan with less than eight minutes remaining in the match. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect threw Aram Minnetian into the boards after the play, opening the door for the Americans for the seventh time in the game.
At that point, despite a chronic inability to find the back of the net, Canada trailed 2-1 and was still in the game. But Cole Eiserman made Cowan pay to double his team’s lead, and Ryan Leonard completed the scoring into an empty net with 1:52 remaining.
In any case, the chances of a comeback were almost zero for an anemic attack, especially against a Trey Augustine in full possession of his means. The American goalkeeper, ordinary since the start of the tournament, was the best player of his team, stopping 38 pucks to sign the victory.
Canada only scored 10 goals in four games during the preliminary round.
Cole Hutson – the other’s brother – opened the scoring on the Americans’ first power play with 6:58 left in the first period. After completely mocking the Canadian brigade, he turned towards the crowd, holding his gloves to his ears. He had just silenced her.
It was the first goal allowed by Carter George in three starts, on the 60th shot aimed at him. His perfect streak ended after 133:02, and he finished the evening with 24 saves.
The Americans had no less than three opportunities to double their lead on the power play, the result of the gross indiscipline of their opponents. They had a few good chances, but fell short. It came to haunt them from the start of the third.
Bradly Nadeau scored his first of the competition with a one-timer with only two seconds remaining on Captain Leonard’s penalty. We thought Canada was going to use the energy of the crowd to increase the pressure, but they did just the opposite.
Sawyer Mynio took a stupid penalty 38 seconds later. This time, the visitors did not miss their chance. Danny Nelson gave his team the lead again with a precise shot from the slot, and that was all they needed against an attack lacking inspiration.
Happy New Year wishes
It didn’t take too long for the old rivals to start hostilities and show emotion. From the first engagement, scuffles after the whistle were legion and conversations often continued all the way to the penalty box.
Cowan and Leonard first invited each other to New Year’s Eve by shouting over the heads of the poor scorers, then Luca Pinelli and Zeev Buium exchanged Happy New Year wishes for long seconds from one side of the benches to the other penalty.
The first concluded with Cole Beaudoin and Drew Fortescue exchanging blows while keeping their gloves on – international rules provide for expulsion in the event of a fight.
This intensity had been missing from the Canadians since the start of the tournament. It allowed us to see that they had a pulse… However, that was not reflected on the match sheet.
