Canada maintains perfect record with win over Slovakia
Tuesday-December 29, 2009
By: Aaron Bell
Taylor Hall didn't find the net in the first two games of the World Junior Championships but he made up for it with a hat trick to pace Canada to an 8-2 win over Slovakia at the World Junior Championships in Saskatoon, SK on Tuesday.
Hall, the Windsor Spitfires' star who is leading the OHL scoring race this season, scored a pair of goals midway through the first period and added another in the second to pace Canada to its third straight win in this tournament and 13th in a row overall dating back to 2008.
Hall, who had three assists in Canada's first two games, was happy to find the net against Slovakia.
"I didn't score the first couple of games but it wasn't a big deal to me," said Hall, Canada's player of the game. "I just kept playing a team game and I knew eventually they would go in."
The win sets up a New Year's Eve showdown with Team U.S.A. (3-0-0) with the winner advancing directly to the semi-finals on Sunday. Hall said that the Canadians expect their games to keep getting tougher from this point on.
"The games that count are ahead of us," Hall said. "Hopefully I can keep playing well and so can the team."
Canada scored early and often on Tuesday to maintain their perfect record at the World Junior Championships.
Hall opened the scoring midway through the first period and then Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues followed up just 21 seconds later. Hall counted again three minutes later to push Canada's lead to three and chase Slovak starter Marek Ciliak from the net in favour of Tomas Halasz.
"He's a special player and any night he can turn it on like that," said Canadian defenceman Ryan Ellis, Hall's teammate with the Spitfires. "He comes to play every night and I think tonight was the night."
Luke Adam of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles scored his third goal of the tournament on an unassisted effort early in the second period and then Ellis added a powerplay marker later in the period. Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings also scored late in the second period.
Stefan Della Rovere of the Barrie Colts added a short-handed marker midway through the third period to round out the scoring for Canada.
The Slovaks got on the board on a powerplay late in the second period when Richard Panik of the Spitfires scored his fourth of the tournament. It was the first goal that Canada gave up in the tournament. Martin Bakos also scored for Slovakia late in the third period.
Canada has outscored its opposition 30-2 in the first three games of the tournament.
Martin Jones of the Calgary Hitmen got his first start in the tournament and allowed two goals on 27 shots in the win.
Canada was without defenceman Calvin de Haan of the Oshawa Generals, who missed the game after suffering an upper body injury in Monday's game against Switzerland.
Canada (3-0-0) finishes the round robin segment of the tournament on New Year's Eve (8:00 p.m. Eastern on TSN) against the U.S.A. (3-0-0).
