Canada vs United States May 6, 2016. 2016 IIHF World Championship

Team USA scored first, but Canada came back 31 seconds later with a goal from Taylor Hall (Kingston, Ont./Edmonton, NHL) and the team charged on from there, defeating their southern neighbour 5-1 in their 2016 IIHF World Championship opener Friday.

Alternate captains Matt Duchene (Halliburton, Ont./Colorado, NHL) and Ryan O’Reilly (Varna, Ont./Buffalo, NHL) led the team in points, with Duchene netting one goal and assisting on one, and O’Reilly assisting on two goals.

Brendan Gallagher (Tsawwassen, B.C./Montreal, NHL), Boone Jenner (Dorchester, Ont./Columbus, NHL), and Brad Marchand (Hammonds Plains, N.S./Boston, NHL) each found the back of the net for Canada; Cam Talbot (Caledonia, Ont./Edmonton, NHL) made 24 saves for the win.

Team Canada will face off against Hungary on Sunday, May 8 at 5 a.m. ET.

“We have a young group, we have a hungry group. They are passionate and full of energy. We will continue to get better as the tournament progresses but we are really pleased with our start.”- Head coach Bill Peters

Team Canada went undefeated at the 2015 IIHF World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, on its way to its first gold medal in eight years.

Since 1931, Canada has won the world championship 19 times – not counting the years when Olympic Winter Games gold-medallists were also considered world champions. The country has also collected 11 silver medals and six bronze in that timespan.