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Canada has been dominant so far at the 2019 Ivan Hlinka Cup. Following this 8-0 victory over Switzerland, the 22-time winner of this event looks poised for another title. The win puts the Canadians through to the semi-finals and virtually assures that Switzerland will play in a placement game.
Penalties: 7:6. PP goals: 2:0. SH goals: 0:0.
Referees: Petr Úlehla, Robin Šír – Jiří Ondráček, Josef Špůr. Attendance: 486.
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Canada scored three goals in the first period, three in the second and two more in the third to secure the victory. Cole Perfetti led the offence with two goals and two assists and now leads the tournament with six points through two games. Linemate Hendrix Lappiere had three points.
The Canadians buzzed on an early power play and had some chances but failed to finish. There was little cause for concern, however, and they finally broke through just shy of the midpoint of the opening period when Jérémie Poirier faked a shot from the right point skated into the middle and took a low shot through a crowd in front that beat everyone, including goaltender Noah Patenaude.
Following on the heels of Andri Henauer’s stellar performance last night against the Czechs, it was a busy afternoon for Patenaude, who did all he could to keep his team in the game, making 41 saves, but it wasn’t enough.
Just 56 seconds after Poirier’s goal, Ryan O’Rourke made it 2-0 when he redirected Quinton Byfield’s slap pass into the near side. In the 16th minute, Hendrix Lapierre made it 3-0 on the rush, crossing the Swiss blueline and firing a wrister inside the post that beat Patenaude to the blocker side.
Patenaude continued to do what he could in the second period, even stopping a Canadian two-man breakaway around the 26-minute mark. In the last half of the middle frame, however, the Canadians struck thrice more with Perfetti figuring in on all three. His third goal of the tournament was a thing of beauty, completely undressing a Swiss defenceman and then beating Patenaude with a backhander between the legs. His fourth came 5:22 later, taking a pass from Lapierre in the high slot and firing it upstairs. For the 6-0 goal, which came in the last minute of the period, Perfetti stripped a Swiss defenceman of the puck and fed Justin Sourdiff, who made no mistake.
A string of three straight Canadian penalties gave the Swiss a chance to finally break the goose egg, but they failed to convert. For Canada’s seventh goal, Perfetti again fed Lapierre for the one-timer - this time the net was displaced but the goal was awarded. Then late in the game, Will Cuylle's second of the tournament rounded out the scoring.
Reactions
Michael Dyck (head coach, Canada): “I thought it was a solid game from our lineup, from top to bottom. We’re just going to take it one game at a time. We’re not going to look too far ahead of us or too far behind us. We’re just going to make sure we’re prepared for the game that’s right in front of us. If we have that approach, we won’t have to worry about complacency.”
Martin Höhener (head coach, Switzerland): “That was the first time this group played against Canada, so we faced a really strong team. You know, they are so versatile and they have solutions for anything that happens out there. It was a real test for us and I saw some good things at times in our defensive zone but we really didn’t create a lot of offence - the pressure from Canada was just too much.”