The first day of the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships didn’t bring any surprising results. However, we saw a couple teams play surprisingly competitive hockey. One of those was Slovakia, who hung in there against the United States. In the end, Team USA got “revenge” for their quarterfinal loss last year, rallying from 2-0 down to win going away, 7-3.
One of those surprisingly competitive teams was not Latvia. Their tournament opener was a complete disaster, as they lost to five-time defending gold medalist Canada 16-0. Yes, 16-0. It doesn’t appear that the Latvian team will be around when the gold medal is decided.
Canada 16, Latvia 0
Host Canada jumped on the overmatched Latvian team from the start, netting five goals in the first — the first coming just 36 seconds into the game — and not giving Latvia anything that even remotely resembled consistent offensive pressure.
Gabriel Bourque (NHL rights: Nashville) tied a Team Canada record with seven points (three goals, four assists), as the Canadians set a record for their largest margin of victory in a shutout. Linemates Brandon Kozun (Los Angeles) and Patrice Cormier (New Jersey) combined for nine points in the game.
Oh, and that’s supposed to be Canada’s checking line. Good luck with that, Group A.
Canada outshot Latvia 67-10, and it could be argued they worked harder as the game wore on, and Latvia wore down. They obviously smelled blood, but it was kind of embarrassing to watch …
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