GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. GERMANY (DEC. 29)

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Less than 24 hours after its win over Austria, Canada’s National Junior Team is right back to action Wednesday against Germany, looking to keep pace with Finland atop Group A at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.

LAST GAME

Another game, another historic hat trick for Canada. Connor Bedard did the honours against Austria, counting four goals in an 11-2 win. The Canadians spread around the scoring, getting goals from seven different players and points from 16 (including all 12 forwards). In addition to Bedard’s performance, Canada got two goals and an assist from Mason McTavish, and a goal and two helpers from Cole Perfetti as it outshot the Austrians 64-22.

The Germans earned an emotional 2-1 overtime win over Czechia on Monday night, getting both goals from Alexander Blank and 39 saves from Florian Bugl to record its first victory of the tournament.

LAST MEETING

Canada and Germany faced off on Boxing Day 2020 in Edmonton, with the Canadians taking advantage of a COVID-ravaged German side (only nine forwards and five defencemen were available) in a 16-2 victory.

Dylan Cozens led the way with a hat trick and three assists, Dawson Mercer had two goals and two helpers, and Cole Perfetti, Connor McMichael, Peyton Krebs, Alex Newhook and Philip Tomasino added three points apiece for the Canadians, who outshot the Germans 44-15.

WHAT TO WATCH

Individually, it has to be Bedard, right? The 16-year-old rewrote the record books against Austria, becoming the youngest player to score three goals (surpassing Wayne Gretzky) and four goals (surpassing Mario Lemieux) in a World Juniors game. That’s pretty good company. But as a team, Bedard is just one piece of a balanced attack; through two games, only four Canadians have yet to record a point, and only one of those, defenceman Carson Lambos, has appeared in both contests.

Blank has been the offensive star for the Germans, scoring both goals against the Czechs and setting up Luca Munzenberger for the lone goal in a 3-1 tournament-opening loss to Finland. Bugl was lights-out against Czechia and should help keep the Germans close. And then there’s Jakub Borzecki; the forward has become a fan favourite in Edmonton after missing the entire 2021 World Juniors while quarantined in his hotel room.

GOING BACK-TO-BACK

Since the IIHF World Junior Championship went to its current format in 1996 (two groups instead of a single round-robin), Canada has played on consecutive days 28 times, going 22-4-2 (W-L-T) in the second half of the back-to-back and winning 19 in a row.

Three of those back-ends have been against Germany, most recently in 2015 in Montreal; Connor McDavid scored a goal and set up two others, and Eric Comrie stopped all 17 shots he faced in a 4-0 Canadian win.

A LOOK BACK

The Canadians have dominated the head-to-head history between the teams, winning all 15 games since the reunification of Germany, 11 of them by at least three goals. Including games against West Germany (1977-1989), Canada has earned 26 wins in 27 games; the lone blemish was a 7-6 loss in the consolation round in 1981, a defeat that helped indirectly lead to the creation of the Program of Excellence the following year.

All-time record: Canada leads 15-0-0
Canada goals: 91
Germany goals: 21