Wednesday, December 29 | 5 p.m. MT | Edmonton, Alberta | Preliminary Round
GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. GERMANY (DEC. 29)
TV: TSN | Radio: TSN Radio | Stream: TSN Direct
Less than 24 hours after its win over Austria,
Canada’s National Junior Team is right back to action Wednesday against Germany, looking to keep pace
with Finland atop Group A at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.
LAST GAME
Another game, another historic hat trick for Canada. Connor Bedard did the
honours against Austria, counting four goals
in an 11-2 win. The Canadians spread around the scoring, getting goals from seven
different players and points from 16 (including all 12 forwards). In
addition to Bedard’s performance, Canada got two goals and an assist from
Mason McTavish, and a goal and two helpers from Cole Perfetti as it outshot
the Austrians 64-22.
The Germans earned an emotional 2-1 overtime win over Czechia on Monday
night, getting both goals from Alexander Blank and 39 saves from Florian
Bugl to record its first victory of the tournament.
LAST MEETING
Canada and Germany faced off on Boxing Day 2020 in Edmonton, with the
Canadians taking advantage of a COVID-ravaged German side (only nine
forwards and five defencemen were available) in
a 16-2 victory.
Dylan Cozens led the way with a hat trick and three assists, Dawson Mercer
had two goals and two helpers, and Cole Perfetti, Connor McMichael, Peyton
Krebs, Alex Newhook and Philip Tomasino added three points apiece for the
Canadians, who outshot the Germans 44-15.
WHAT TO WATCH
Individually, it has to be Bedard, right? The 16-year-old rewrote the
record books against Austria, becoming the youngest player to score three
goals (surpassing Wayne Gretzky) and four goals (surpassing Mario Lemieux)
in a World Juniors game. That’s pretty good company. But as a team, Bedard
is just one piece of a balanced attack; through two games, only four
Canadians have yet to record a point, and only one of those, defenceman
Carson Lambos, has appeared in both contests.
Blank has been the offensive star for the Germans, scoring both goals
against the Czechs and setting up Luca Munzenberger for the lone goal in a
3-1 tournament-opening loss to Finland. Bugl was lights-out against Czechia
and should help keep the Germans close. And then there’s Jakub Borzecki;
the forward has become a fan favourite in Edmonton after missing the entire
2021 World Juniors while quarantined in his hotel room.
GOING BACK-TO-BACK
Since the IIHF World Junior Championship went to its current format in 1996
(two groups instead of a single round-robin), Canada has played on
consecutive days 28 times, going 22-4-2 (W-L-T) in the second half of the
back-to-back and winning 19 in a row.
Three of those back-ends have been against Germany, most recently in 2015
in Montreal; Connor McDavid scored a goal and set up two others, and Eric
Comrie stopped all 17 shots he faced in
a 4-0 Canadian win.
A LOOK BACK
The Canadians have dominated the head-to-head history between the teams,
winning all 15 games since the reunification of Germany, 11 of them by at
least three goals. Including games against West Germany (1977-1989), Canada
has earned 26 wins in 27 games; the lone blemish was a 7-6 loss in the
consolation round in 1981, a defeat that helped indirectly lead to the
creation of the Program of Excellence the following year.
All-time record: Canada leads 15-0-0
Canada goals: 91
Germany goals: 21
