The 19-year-old forward will return to the Anaheim Ducks next month, the NHL team where he had one goal and two assists in nine appearances last season. Skipping an August tournament to focus on preparing for training camp likely wouldn’t raise eyebrows. But McTavish was clear – he loves playing hockey and he loves representing Canada The dedication paid off on Thursday as the captain scored four goals and provided two assists to power his side 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 coach Dave Cameron said. “He has no ego. He probably had every reason not to come to this tournament, just because of his time. And he’s fully committed to it. And his performance tonight was outstanding.” McTavish made history on Thursday by setting a Canadian record for most goals in a world junior game. Other players to accomplish the feat are Mario Lemieux (1984), Brayden Schenn (2011) and Maxime Comtois (2019). “It’s really cool for sure. A special moment,” McTavish said. “Obviously, credit to my teammates. They were looking for me the whole game, I felt like.” McTavish plays a special game, teammate Brennan Othmann said. “He’s fun to play with,” he said. “He is a top scorer, 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 multi-point performances in the win, including McTavish, Joshua Roy (one goal, three assists), Othman (one goal, two assists), Olen Zellweger (one goal, one assist), Connor Bendar (one goal, one assist ), Logan Stankoven (one goal, one assist), Will Kyle (one goal, one assist), Lucas Cormier (two assists) and William Dufour (two assists). Zack Ostapchuk also scored for Canada (2-0-0), which was coming off a 5-2 tournament-opening win over Latvia on Wednesday. “We’re deep from our first line to our fourth line,” Othmann said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in or who’s out, everyone contributes in some way.” Matej Kaslik gave up the only goal for Slovakia (0-0-2) midway through the second period. Making his first start of the tournament, Canada’s Dylan Garand made 22 saves. Tomas Bolo stopped 33 of 44 shots for Slovakia, which dropped a 5-4 decision to the Czech Republic (1-0-1) on Tuesday. There were just 21 seconds left on the game clock when Ostapchuk buried a shot. He took a loose puck to the side of the net and slid it around the front, past Bolo to seal the score at 11-1. Roy cut Canada’s lead to 10-1 at 15:07. Dufour’s shot hit Bolo’s pad and Roy picked up the rebound at the top of the crease, lobbing it over the netminder as it fell to the ice. McTavish barely 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 an OT-seven game winner or something,” he said. “I don’t tend to get too excited.” McTavish completed his hat trick with 35 seconds left in the middle frame. Bedard took a hit in the neutral zone and sent a puck down the ice to give his teammates a two-man breakaway. Roy put a clean pass into McTavish’s tape and he fired a shot past Bollo to give the Canadians an 8-1 lead. About a dozen hats floated on the ice. It was McTavish’s backhand flick off the top of the crease 15:16 into the second that gave Canada a 7-1 cushion. Just 36 seconds earlier, Slovakia finally beat Garand after a battle down low. Kaslik picked up the puck and unleashed a shot that hit the goalie’s pad and the crossbar on its way into the net. A three-man breakaway set up McTavish’s first goal of the night 6:25 into the second. Donovan Sebrango sent him a lead and when he handled the puck, the Team Canada captain skated in, sending a rocket soaring off the side of the Bolo 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 on a five-on-three. Kent Johnson sent a shot into the Bolo board and Stankoven, who was at the side of the net, made a shot before the goalie could get back to his position. Canada was 1-for-4 on the power play and Slovakia went 0-for-3. After a slow start in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over Latvia, Canada was a force in the first period Thursday. The home nation took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission after Zellweger scored with just 43 seconds left in the opening frame. The defender had a shot from the chip markers and the puck appeared to mark another player in front of the net before hitting the post. Slovakia challenged the play for offside, but a video review found Zellweger’s goal to be good. A failed clearing attempt by Slovakia set up Canada’s third hit of the night. Bolo tried to send the puck deep into his own end, but Cuylle picked it up at the blue line and sent it to Othmann in the faceoff circle. Cuylle gave Canada a 2-0 lead less than three minutes earlier. Ridly Greig came out of the penalty box and hit a pass to Cuylle, who skated in on a breakaway himself and put a quick blast through Bolo’s pads. Slovakia had a breakaway of their own earlier in the first, but Garand read the play perfectly and the shot bounced off his pads to keep Canada ahead 1-0. For the second straight game, Bendar opened the scoring for the Canadians. 17-year-old center Regina Pats flipped the puck to McTavish, who cut it back to the receiver. Bedard capped the give-and-go by slotting a stunning shot past Bolo from the bottom of the circle 6:16 into the first period. Thursday’s early game saw Finland (2-0-0) battle the Czech Republic (1-0-1) for a 4-3 penalty shootout win. “During the game, we got better and better. And that’s the most important thing,” said Finnish coach Andi Penanen. The Czech Republic and Canada will both be off on Friday before facing off on Saturday. The Czechs know they will have to raise their game for the match, forward Jiri Kulich said. “We just want to maintain our game,” he said. “It’s a big challenge, of course, and a big game. So we will do our best.” In the last game of the day, the defending champions USA (2-0-0) convincingly beat Switzerland 7-1 (0-2-0). On Friday, Austria (0-1-0) will face Sweden (1-0-0) and Slovakia will face 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 matches will be held on August 20. … The 2022 tournament is being held in August after the original replay was canceled on December 29 after just four days due to a surge in COVID-19 cases among players and referees forcing games to be missed. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 11, 2022.
