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Canada thumps Kazakhstan 15-0

Written by: Jesse Michael on 28th December 2008

PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT

Jamie Benn had the hat-trick but was stopped on this shot | read this item

OTTAWA – Despite a strong effort from Kazakhstan’s goaltenders Andrei Yankov and Maxim Gryaznov, who combined to stop 54 of 69 shots, the Canadian Juniors pulled out a solid victory winning 15-0 on Sunday afternoon.

Jordan Eberle opened the scoring the Canadians, in front of another lively crowd in Ottawa, at the 1:29 mark of the first period. Eberle poked home the rebound that was lying beside the post for his second of the tournament, after Cody Hodgson deflected Eberle’s original pass on net.

Jamie Benn scored one of his three goals on the afternoon at 8:48 to put Canada up 2-0. He made a nice little dangle to step by the Kazakh defenceman, pushing the puck into the slot and roofing a shot overtop of Yankov’s blocker.

PK Subban scored his first of two goals in the game late in the first period on a pass from John Tavares at the end of a Canadian powerplay. Tavares was camped out on the side boards and spotted Subban alone in the slot who got the pass, spun, and fired it over the glove of Yankov to put the Canadians up 4-0.

“It was a 15-0 win, but whenever you can contribute it feels great. I’m happier that we got the win.”

“It felt ok,” said Subban about scoring his first two goals of the tournament. “It was a 15-0 win, but whenever you can contribute it feels great. I’m happier that we got the win.”

The rout was on after that, as six other players scored for Canada; Cody Hodgson (2), Chris Didomenico, John Tavares (2), Tyler Ennis, Evander Kane, and Stefan Della Rovere as they moved their record to 2-0 at this years World Championships.

Della Rovere, who missed practice yesterday due to a sore foot, was able to withstand the pain and take his regular shift beside Patrice Cormier and Evander Kane. He chipped in with a goal late in the third period on the powerplay and says his injury is feeling a lot better.

“I’ve been injured before when I was younger, and you just have to battle through it,” said Della-Rovere. “Its fortunate that I was able to heal up really quick and go today.”

Canadian goaltender Chet Pickard had a relatively easy night, stopping all 11 shots he faced for his first shutout in the tournament.

Notes…. Canada’s next game is Monday night vs. Germany at the ScotiaBank Place. Gametime is 7 pm…. the last time Canada won 15-0 was at the 2002 Championships against France featuring such players as Brad Boyes, Mike Cammeleri, and Pascal Leclaire…Ottawa Sun writer Don Brennan was quoted as saying in his article on December 27th, saying “Out-of-town writer Jesse Michael looks a lot like John Tavares. ‘More like that jerk, sweater-guy in the movie, The Wedding Crashers,’ Michael’s buddy argued. The actor he’s thinking of is Bradley Cooper, who really should get the lead role if they ever do a movie on Tavares’ life”…Jamie Benn’s hat-trick was the first for a Canadian player at the World Juniors since 2005 tournament.

Topics: Bradley Cooper, Chet Pickard, Chris DiDomenico, Cody Hodgson, Della Rovere, Evander Kane, Jamie Benn, John Tavares, Jordan Eberle, P.K. Subban, Team Canada, Tyler Ennis, Wedding Crashers