HOCKEY CANADA 2020 IIHF UPDATE SATURDAY DECEMBER 26 2020

Seventeen of 20 skaters registered at least one point as Canada’s National Junior Team opened defence of its gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship with a 16-2 win over Germany.

• Dylan Cozens (Whitehorse, Y.T./Lethbridge, WHL) finished with a six-point night, including a hat trick and three assists.
• Dawson Mercer (Bay Roberts, N.L./Chicoutimi, QMJHL) tallied a four-point night with two goals and two assists.
• Peyton Krebs (Okotoks, Alta./Winnipeg, WHL), Alex Newhook (St. John’s, N.L./Boston College, HE) and Philip Tomasino (Mississauga, Ont./Oshawa, OHL) recorded two goals and one assist apiece, while Cole Perfetti (Whitby, Ont./Saginaw, OHL) added three assists.
• Kaiden Guhle (Sherwood Park, Alta./Prince Albert, WHL), Thomas Harley (Jamesville, N.Y./Mississauga, OHL), Connor McMichael (Ajax, Ont./London, OHL), Jakob Pelletier (Quebec City, Que./Val-d’Or, QMJHL)
• Ryan Suzuki (London, Ont./Saginaw, OHL) rounded out the scoring for Canada.
• Devon Levi (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que./Northeastern University, HE) stopped nine shots in two periods of play before Dylan Garand (Victoria, B.C./Kamloops, WHL) made four saves in the third period.
  Canada outshot Germany 44-15.

“I have been part of a lot of hockey games and those are the ones you don’t really remember. I do not know if I have been in such a high-scoring game. I give a lot of credit to the Germans, they were in a tough situation with sickness on their team and two games in 24 hours against two tough countries. They fought hard; in the first period, we got lucky on a couple of goals and if you take those two goals away, they had a pretty good first period. Credit to them, they fought hard.” – Head coach André Tourigny (Nicolet, Que./Ottawa, OHL) 

Prior to the game, Bowen Byram (Cranbrook, B.C./Vancouver, WHL) and Cozens were announced as co-captains, taking turns wearing the ‘C’ for the tournament due to IIHF rules. Kirby Dach (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta./Chicago, NHL) will remain as captain despite not being able to participate, while McMichael will serve as a full-time alternate captain.

Next Game: Canada vs. Slovakia – Dec. 27 at 6 p.m. ET