Simon Despres (left) and Team Canada cruised to an 8-0 win over Switzerland last night in World Junior Hockey Championship pre-tournament action in Oshawa, Ont.
Drummondville Voltigeurs forward and Bathurst native Sean Couturier was a star for Canada, recording a goal and assisting on three others.
Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Marcus Foligno, Jaden Schwartz, and Casey Cizikas each recorded markers as the team took a three goal advantage into the first intermission.
Tyson Barrie, Louis Leblanc, Couturier, and Calvin de Haan each scored in the middle frame while Carter Ashton closed out the goal getting with a third period marker, giving the home side an 8-0 blowout victory over the Swiss.
Canadian goaltender Mark Visenten stopped all 20-shots he faced to pick up the win.
Despres played well in the match, keeping things simple and not making any obvious mistakes on the backend.
“It was a good start. We scored some goals, hopefully we can (stay together) and keep it up into the tournament,” said Foligno to QMI Agency about his linemates Couturier and Zach Kassian. “There was one point where it was us — and we’re all at least six-foot-three — and Erik Gudbranson and Simon Depres on defence. I felt a little bit sorry for the guys we were out there with.”
Box Score | Canadian Press | Toronto Star | QMI Agency | Highlights
UP NEXT
Tonight, Canada will face a tougher test at the Air Canada Centre when they take on Sweden. Game time is 8:30 pm AST. The game can be viewed on TSN.
Acadie-Bathurst Titan goaltender Olivier Roy is expected to start in goal.
This will be Canada’s second of three exhibition matches prior to the tournament kicking off on Boxing Day in Buffalo. Canada faces Finland in their final pre-tournament game on Thursday at the Kitchener Auditorium.
SLOVAKIA PREVIEW
Puck World had a preview of how Team Slovakia may stack up at the world juniors.
There are only three NHL draft picks on this roster (Panik, Marincin, Janosik), with two potential 2011 draft picks in Ceresnak and Tomas Jurco.The blog predicts the country to finish third in Group A and sixth overall.
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