Summary
OTTAWA – Friday morning, the day after a solid performance by his troops against Finland, Dave Cameron was wary of the threat of a let-up 24 hours later against Latvia.
“We will have to constantly gain strength in this tournament. We have to improve because that’s what all our opponents will do. Tonight, we will have to be better in all facets of our game,” said the coach of Junior Team Canada.
We prefer to warn you before you go any further: that is not what happened.
Against an opponent who did not have the tools to bother them, the Canadian team offered a performance of incomprehensible mediocrity and lost by a score of 3-2 in a shootout.
No need to wipe your glasses or check your wireless connection. This is the pure truth.
Saint John Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko ended a surreal thriller by beating goaltender Jack Ivankovic in the eighth round of the shootout.
Twice, the Latvians overcame a deficit in the third period. Mateiko tied the game for the first time with just over six minutes remaining in regulation time.
Calum Ritchie had for a brief moment restored logic by scoring on the power play with 5:38 to play, but the underdogs responded once again in utter dismay. Peteris Bulans, of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, sent a shot from far behind young goalie Ivankovic with 2:29 left on the clock.
The Canadians gave Latvia a seventh power play in overtime when they were caught with an extra player on the ice. The underdogs were unable to take advantage of this 42-second gift to cause an upset. It was only a matter of time.
Goalkeeper Linards Feldbergs will never have to pay for a dinner again in his life in his country. The 19-year-old goaltender blocked 55 shots in the game and was perfect in front of eight shooters in the final tiebreaker. The list of rivals he closed the door on includes five first-round picks in the National League.
From this historic under-performance on the Canadian side, we will remember an unfortunate tendency to get into trouble, a worrying number of avoidable reversals, a low interest in exploring dangerous areas and an indiscipline which could have caused its downfall. Baron Alain Chantelois would have spoken correctly of a colorless, odorless and tasteless proposition.
This is a mystery that Cameron and his deputies will have to look into seriously. But this is not their only concern.
The other bad news of the day came in the first period, when young defender Matthew Schaefer appeared to injure his left shoulder when colliding with the Latvian goal. The 17-year-old guard, one of Canada’s most dynamic skaters since the group first came together at selection camp, slammed into the ramp and stood still for several seconds.
Schaefer returned to the locker room and did not return to the game.
More details to come.
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