Canada shuts out Czech, remain perfect
Posted December 28, 2011 10:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON, Alta. — Team Canada rode its red-hot offence to another victory, defeating the Czech Republic (1-1) 5-0.
The Canadians are a perfect 2-0 after an 8-1 win over Finland on Monday. Mark Stone started the offence for Canada, scoring his fourth goal of the tournament in the first period to bring 16, 417 screaming fans out of their seats.
Stone’s goal came as the result of a rebound from Jonathan Huberdeau. The Saint John Sea Dog took a pass from behind the net and eluded a check from Lukas Sedlak to gain leverage. His wrap around attempt was stopped, but the puck squirted out the far side for an open net, tap-in for Stone.
The story of the game in the first period, however, was Czech goaltender Petr Mrazek. The Ottawa 67 goalie made a huge stop on Brendan Gallagher after his team was already down a goal then stopped Stone on a penalty shot.
Stone earned the one-on-one duel when his pass attempt was knocked towards Mrazek by Jiri Riha. The puck caromed off Riha’s stick and was stopped by Mrazek’s right toe. Riha slid into his goaltender’s leg and proceeded to cover the puck with his right hand.
More at Buzzing the Net: WJC2012: 5 reasons why it’s perfectly Canadian to loathe the world juniors | Read it here
Stone made one too many moves on the penalty shot, trying to fake the backhand before pulling to the forehand. Mrazek stayed with him and made the stop before proceeding to celebrate with a kneel-down, fist pump towards his bench. The fans at Rexall Place responded by booing the Czech goaltender’s enthusiasm.
It took a while for Canada to find the back of the net again. Early in the second frame, Ryan Strome cut from the left blue line and passed back across to Brendan Gallagher, who misfired on a one-timer with a yawning cage.
Canada got an injection of offence from their last line of defence. With both teams changing, goaltender Scott Wedgewood sent a pass from his own end to the far blue line to spring Freddie Hamilton for a breakaway. Hamilton was stopped on the shot, but stayed with the play and found Ryan Strome for a wide-open shot. Strome made no mistake in giving Canada a 2-0 lead.
Shortly thereafter, Brett Connolly finally made good on a nice rush. After mishandling the puck on an open net earlier in the period, Connolly pulled to his left then back to his forehand for a shot on Mrazek in tight. The puck snuck through and hit the post, where Connolly tapped it in on his way behind the net.
The Czechs couldn’t do much with several man advantages in the game, and a few five-on-three power-plays where they were content passing it around the box, but not shooting.
It came back to bite them when Canada came back to even strength. Mark Scheifele put the game out of reach with a well placed shot over Mrazek’s glove on a beauty feed from Barrie Colt teammate Tanner Pearson. Pearson got the assist after jarring the puck loose from David Musil behind the net then finding Scheifele open for the shot.
The Pearson-Scheifele connection struck again on an extended power-play late in the third period. Pearson threw the puck across to Scheifele, who stood with an open net to Mrazek’s right to spot Canada a 5-0 lead.
Rarely tested in the third period, Wedgewood stopped all 26 shots he faced for the shutout. It gives head coach Don Hay an interesting decision to make for his final two games of the round robin.
The fans chanted Wedgewood’s name after the game, perhaps indicating to Hay which goaltender they’d like to see the remainder of the way.
Canada’s next game in Thursday against Team Denmark (0-2).
