Canada scored early and often on Wednesday to open their tournament off with a huge 14-0 win against Denmark.
Morgan Frost had both the team and the hockey world buzzing early on, undressing Denmark's Mads Sogaard to open the scoring just 4:52 into the first period.
That play was followed shortly by an incredible heads up play by Owen Tippett. Tippett made a great patience play at the line to stay onside, and was rewarded with a perfect one timer pass from Frost. Frost would later close out the period with his second goal of the night.
The most Canadian play of the night came when Truro Nova Scotia's Jared McIsaac took a shot off the outside of his right foot just 20 seconds into their penalty kill. McIsaac got up and laboured for the next 40 seconds, helping the team to their first kill of the night. It was a huge bright spot for a defence that looked a little rusty moving the puck to start the game.
After the first period things got a little ridiculous for team Canada. The lone member from last year's squad, Maxime Comtois, scored his first of the tournament just 45 seconds into the period, which was followed shortly by Frost's hat trick goal.
That's when everyone else decided to hop on the scoring train, with goals from Jack Studnicka, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Barrett Hayton, Brett Leason, and MacKenzie Entwistle en route to the 14-0 win.
The game was topped off by a record setting night from Comtois. With four goals on the night, Max tied a Canada World Juniors record for goals in a game.
Goaltender Michael DiPietro, who got the start over Ian Scott, had a rather easy night, stopping all 12 shots (including a penalty shot) that he faced, giving him the first shutout of the tournament.
Last Minute of Play
Alexis Lafreniere is somehow losing the battle of 17 year old North Americans after American Jack Hughes tallied an assist. Lafreniere, meanwhile, was one of three players (including DiPietro who tallied an assist) to be held off the score sheet.
Evan Bouchard was an incredible quarterback for the defence core with three assists early on.
Competition aside, the team Canada powerplay looked really good tonight. Although they only managed to score one goal, they had plenty of wide open scoring chances and netted a goal just one second after their one powerplay ended. Getting the powerplay going is a big deal for this team given that the last four teams to lead the tournament in powerplay percentage have gone on to win it all.
Although he's known more for being a pure shooter, Owen Tippett blew my mind on multiple occasions tonight with some of the moves he was making. The one handed spin-o-rama that put the Denmark defender in a blender stands out the most, but Tippett made multiple defenders look stupid all game.
Captain Max Comtois obviously had himself an incredible night on the ice with his four goal performance. What might go underlooked however, is the leadership job that he has done for this team. Comtois was physical all game, putting his body on the line for the squad on the ice all night long. Off the ice, well... just check out this tweet showing him firing up the boys before the first puck drop.
Canada will play Thursday night at 8:00 p.m EST against Team Switzerland. It's expected that goaltender Ian Scott will get the start in place of DiPietro.