Many hands make light work, especially when they’re as silky as the mitts spread throughout Team Canada’s lineup.
After Tuesday night’s 5-0 dismantling of Team Slovakia, the Canadians have registered a combined 10 goals through two World Junior Championship games, including their 5-3 tournament-opening win versus Team Russia on Monday. The production itself is impressive, but even more attention-grabbing is the fact those 10 tallies have come from nine different players.
The lone two-goal man is captain Dylan Strome, who notched a pair versus Russia. That means almost half of Canada’s 20 skaters have already found the back of the net just 48 hours into the event.
“It shows our depth and what we can do offensively,” said Taylor Raddysh, who buried Canada’s second marker versus the Slovaks.
Raddysh’s power-play goal—a perfect shot from the bottom of the circle over the glove of goalie Adam Huska—was just one of the many displays of skill put on by Canada versus an incredibly overmatched opponent. But talent isn’t the only thing winning the day; the Red and White drive is apparent up and down the lineup, and enables the club to keep the puck precisely where it wants it.
“They’re really strong in 50-50 battles,” said Slovakia’s Marian Studenic, who plays for the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs.
Canada is also excelling on the power play, having gone 5-for-9 with the man advantage thus far in the tourney. The two power-play goals against Slovakia perfectly illustrated the different looks Canada can use when it’s on the right side of a special teams encounter. After Raddysh buried down low, defenceman Thomas Chabot—the high man in the team’s 1-3-1 formation—hammered a one-timer home from the blueline for Canada’s fourth goal of the game.
Coach Dominique Ducharme said getting a team chock full of elite players to click on the power play isn’t always easy.
“They want to be perfect,” he said. “They want to be tic-tac-toe all the time. I think our guys are seeing, by being aggressive at the net and keeping it simple and using [different] options and really taking what the other team is giving us…we’re having success.”
One player who’s certainly emblematic of things going right all over the ice is blueliner Jeremy Lauzon. Drafted 52nd overall in the second round by the Boston Bruins in 2015, Lauzon opened the scoring against Slovakia and added an assist on a tally by Anthony Cirelli for a solid two-point outing. That’s great production for a D-man who figures to be well outside Canada’s top four in the event. Then again, being on the ice at all is a joy for Lauzon given what he’s been through in the recent past.
Last April, while playing for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in a second-round QMJHL playoff game versus the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, Lauzon was cut on the neck by a skate blade. He was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery that quickly stabilized a very scary situation. Remarkably, Lauzon was able to return about a month later when his Huskies participated in the Memorial Cup.
“I was just really happy to be alive,” he said. “It’s nice to be here now and to be able to play in this kind of tournament after what I have been through.”