Canada Switzerland Quarterfinals World Juniors
EDMONTON — Canada may have finished the preliminary round undefeated, but teen star Connor Bedard says he and his teammates have more to give as they move on to the playoffs at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
The Canadians (4-0-0) are at the top of the table and are preparing to face Switzerland (1-3-0) in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
Watch Canada vs Switzerland LIVE Wednesdays at 7pm ET/4pm PT on TSN4, TSN.ca and the TSN App. TSN’s coverage of Wednesday’s Quarterfinals begins at 12pm ET/9am PT with Germany v Finland.
“I think our aim is still to get better in every game,” Bedard said on Monday after scoring and assisting in Canada’s 6-3 win over Finland.
“Finland will be one of the top teams and what we showed (on Monday) was pretty big for us. And we want to continue this momentum until Wednesday.”
Bedard’s game has been a highlight for Canada in the tournament so far.
The 17-year-old forward from North Vancouver, BC opened the scoring for the hosts in the 5-2 win over Latvia, amassing at least one point (three goals, four assists) in every game.
An early pick for the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Bedard is just a special player, Captain Mason McTavish said.
“There are so many highlights from him,” he said. “He’s elite and his shot is just crazy.”
McTavish has been an offensive force for Canada and leads the tournament with 13 points (seven goals, six assists).
The 19-year-old Anaheim Ducks contender has played plenty of hockey in recent months, helping the Hamilton Bulldogs win an Ontario Hockey League championship and winning the Maple Leaf at the Beijing Olympics.
McTavish, a big games veteran, said his attitude won’t change much until the quarterfinals.
“Obviously it’s an elimination game, anything can happen,” he said. “I think we need to come out a lot sharper and dictate the pace with more bounce from the start.”
Canada trailed just once in the preliminary round when the Czech Republic – the country commonly known as the Czech Republic – scored the first goal in their round-robin match on Saturday. The Canadians roared back to a 5-1 win.
Special teams were key for Canada, who converted on 6 out of 10 power plays and conceded just two goals from 11 penalties.
Over the course of four games, the Canadians outscored their opponents 27-7 and lead the world’s juniors by a plus-20 goal difference.
In order to be able to continue the tournament, the team has to top the Swiss on Wednesday.
Switzerland secured their place in the quarter-finals with their only tournament victory so far, a 3-2 win over Austria. But Canada knows that nothing is certain when it comes to the world’s juniors.
“We know that (the Swiss) didn’t have the greatest success in this tournament, but we know that they are a great team,” said Canadian forward Nathan Gaucher. “They will be there, they will challenge us. They’re a bit of a skill team. So we just have to play our best game, even better than the game against Finland.”
In Wednesday’s other quarterfinals, the reigning US champions (4-0-0) meet the Czechs (1-2-1), Sweden (3-1-0), Latvia (1-2-1) and Finland ( 3-1-0) against Germany (2-2-0).
Goalie Dylan Garand is the only player on the Canada team to have previously qualified for a World Juniors playoff.
The 20-year-old New York Rangers contender was part of the squad that won silver when the 2021 tournament in Edmonton was played without fans in the stands due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This year’s group isn’t worried about the quarterfinals, Garand said.
“We are here to win. So we’re not really afraid of eliminations (matches),” he said. “We want to win these games and reach our goal of a gold medal.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 16, 2022.