Powered by forward Macklin Celebrini, Canada dominated Latvia 10-0 on Wednesday in the second game of the Junior World Championship preliminary round.
The man expected to be the first player selected in the next National League Draft has one goal and four assists. He was involved in the first of Conor Geekie's two successes, Brayden Yager's and Carson Rehkopf's.
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“Seeing the guys perform on their plays and play well with different teammates really helps,” Celebrini told TSN. It helps the team and pushes us in the right direction. That means a lot.”
“It’s great to start the tournament with a 2-0 record,” said the hero of the day. This is the beginning we needed and wanted.”
Almost everyone takes part
The other scorers against Latvia were Owen Allard, Fraser Minten, Matthew Wood and Matthew Poitras. Denton Mateychuk, Ty Nelson and Matt Savoie each had two assists.
“I think that's the key in a tournament like this,” Canada head coach Alan Letang said when asked about the strength of his squad. We will build on that. We understand that we will need it in our next games. All our players have to give their best. That's why it's important to continue playing our four lines.
Only six Canadian players did not score a point in this duel, including Canadian youth player Owen Beck from Montreal.
In front of the winner's cage, Quebecer Mathis Rousseau signed a 20-save shutout.
Canada began its tournament on Tuesday with a 5-2 win over Finland. He will return to action on Friday against Sweden, the hosts of this edition of the Junior World Cup.