EDMONTON — Mason McTavish didn’t have to don the maple leaf and play in an unusual summer world junior hockey championship.
The 19-year-old forward will return to the Anaheim Ducks next month, the NHL team where he had a goal and two assists in nine appearances last season. Skipping a tournament in August to focus on preparing for training camp likely won’t raise eyebrows.
But McTavish was clear – he loves playing hockey and he loves representing Canada
The dedication paid off on Thursday when the captain had four goals and two assists to power his team to an 11-1 win over Slovakia.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised by his hockey and what he brings to the ice. But what really impresses me is his attitude,” Canada head coach Dave Cameron said.
“He has no ego. He probably had every reason not to come to this tournament, just because of the weather for him. And he is fully committed to it. And his performance tonight was outstanding.”
McTavish made history Thursday by tying a Canadian record for most goals in a world junior game.
Other players to have achieved the feat include Mario Lemieux (1984), Brayden Schenn (2011) and Maxime Comtois (2019).
“It sure is great. A special moment,” McTavish said. “Obviously credit to my teammates. They were looking for me the whole game, that’s how I felt.”
McTavish is playing a special game, teammate Brennan Othman said.
“He’s fun to play with,” he said. “He’s an elite goalscorer as you could see tonight. No matter what team he’s up against, he always finds the back of the net somehow.”
Nine Canadians had multiple points in the win, including McTavish, Joshua Roy (one goal, three assists), Othman (one goal, two assists), Olen Zellweger (one goal, one assist), Connor Bedard (one goal, one assist), Logan Stankoven (one goal, one assist), Will Kuyle (one goal, one assist), Lucas Cormier (two assists) and William Dufour (two assists).
Zach Ostapchuk also scored for Canada (2-0-0), who bounced back from a 5-2 tournament-opening win over Latvia on Wednesday.
“We’re deep from our first line to our fourth line,” Othman said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in or who’s out, everyone contributes in some way.”
Matej Kaslik scored the lone goal for Slovakia (0-0-2) midway through the second period.
Making his first start in the tournament, Canadian Dylan Garrand recorded 22 saves.
Tomas Bolo stopped 33 of 44 shots for Slovakia, which lost a 5-4 decision against the Czech Republic (1-0-1) on Tuesday.
There were just 21 seconds left on the game clock when Ostapchuk buried a shot. He picked up a loose puck at the side of the net and slid it around the front, past Bolo to seal the score at 11-1.
Roy extended Canada’s lead to 10-1 at 15:07. Dufour’s shot found Bolo’s pad and Roy took the rebound at the top of the crease, firing it over the goalie as he fell to the ice.
McTavish hardly celebrated after finding space between Bolo and the post for his fourth goal of the night 3:44 into the third.
“I’m not the biggest celebrator unless it’s a Game 7 winner or something,” he said. “I don’t really tend to get too excited.”
McTavish completed his hat trick with 35 seconds left in the middle frame.
Bedard took a puck in the neutral zone and sent a puck up the ice to give his teammates a two-man break. Roy made a clear pass in the lane to McTavish and he fired past Bolo to give the Canadians an 8-1 lead.
About a dozen hats floated out onto the ice.
It was McTavish’s backhand shot from the top of the crease 15:16 into the second that gave Canada a 7-1 cushion.
Just 36 seconds earlier, Slovakia had finally defeated Garand after a low-level battle.
Caslik received the puck and fired a shot that hit the goalie’s box and the crossbar on its way to the net.
A three-man breakaway set up McTavish’s first goal of the night 6:25 into the second. Donovan Sebrango fed him a lead pass and, holding the puck, the Team Canada captain stepped in, sending a rocket flying past Bolo’s stick to extend the lead to 6-0.
The second period was just over a minute in when Stankoven scored Canada’s fifth goal of the night at five on three.
Kent Johnson sent a shot to Bolo’s pad and Stankoven, stationed at the side of the net, scored before the keeper could get back into position.
Canada was 1-for-4 on the power play and Slovakia went 0-for-3.
After a slow start in a 5-2 win over Latvia on Wednesday, Canada was a force in the first period on Thursday.
The hosts took a 4-0 advantage into the first intermission after Zellweger scored with 43 seconds left in the first frame.
The defenseman got a shot off the bars and the puck appeared to deflect off another player in front of the net before bouncing off the post.
Slovakia challenged the play for offside, but video review showed that Zellweger’s goal was good.
A diving clearance attempt by Slovakia set up Canada’s third strike of the night.
Bolo tried to send the puck deep into his own end, but Kuile picked it up at the blue line and sent it to Othman in the faceoff circle. The New York Rangers prospect had a shot past the goalie 15:57 into the game.
Kuyle gave Canada a 2-0 lead less than three minutes earlier.
Ridley Greig came out of the box and played a pass up the boards to Kuyle, who got in alone on a breakaway and fired a quick shot through Bolo’s pads.
Slovakia managed to break away early in the first, but Garrand read the play perfectly and the shot bounced off his pads to keep Canada ahead 1-0.
For the second straight game, Bedard opened the scoring for the Canadians.
The 17-year-old Regina Pats center tossed the puck to McTavish, who put it back through the slot. Bedard capped the handoff by ripping a great shot past Bolo from the bottom of the faceoff circle 6:16 into the first period.
Thursday’s early game saw Finland (2-0-0) battle the Czech Republic (1-0-1) to a 4-3 shootout victory.
“During the game we got better and better. And that’s the most important thing,” said Finland head coach Antti Pennanen.
The Czech Republic and Canada will be off on Friday before facing each other on Saturday.
The Czechs know they will have to improve their game for the match, forward Jiri Kulic said.
“We just want to keep our game,” he said. “It’s a big challenge, of course, and a big game. So we’re just going to do our best.”
In the final game of the day, the defending champion Americans (2-0-0) took a convincing 7-1 victory over Switzerland (0-2-0).
Friday will see Austria (0-1-0) vs. Sweden (1-0-0) and Slovakia vs. Latvia (0-2-0).
NOTES: McTavish leads the tournament in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists). … The preliminary round continues through Monday, with the quarterfinals set for Wednesday. The semifinals are scheduled for August 19, and the medal games will be played on August 20. … The 2022 tournament will be held in August after the original iteration was canceled on Dec. 29 after just four days due to rising cases of COVID-19 among players and officials forcing games to be forfeited.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 11, 2022.
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