Canada's juniors crush Finland in tournament tuneup

There was no stopping Canada when Tyson Jost and his teammates stormed out of the gate.

Jost scored the first of his two first-period goals only 11 seconds into the game as Canada cruised to a 5-0 victory over Finland in a pre-tournament game Monday night ahead of the world junior hockey championship.

"I thought we controlled the play and the pace down low, when we stayed out of the penalty box," said Jost, a University of North Dakota winger from Kelowna, B.C. "That was good to see.

"And we used our speed. We really moved the puck around and played fast.

It was just the way a Canadian team lacking exceptional stars but deep in speed and skill wants to play as it guns for gold at the world junior event that opens Dec. 26 in Montreal and Toronto.

Taylor Raddysh and Mathew Barzal also scored as Canada got four past Veini Vehvilainen on 16 first-period shots. Raddysh added another in the third while Carter Hart, who has yet to allow a goal in game action since the beginning of the team's selection camp last week, stopped all 25 shots he faced. Canada fired 30 at Finland's net.

Need discipline

The only negative factor was that the Canadian took seven minor penalties.

"It was all sticks," coach Dominique Ducharme said of the infractions. "We're aware of that and we'll make sure we correct it."

It was the first meeting between the two teams since Finland eliminated Canada in the quarter-finals of last year's world junior event in Helsinki. The Finns sent a young squad to this year's tournament, which was evident in the first period.

"It was just a hard period for us," said defenceman Olli Juolevi of the London Knights, the Finnish captain. "Half the team was coming from Europe and it was maybe their first period on a small rink, which is not an easy thing to do.

"But the good thing was there were no points on this game. The important thing is to be ready when the tournament starts."

Canada got a rush from the opening faceoff and Jost scored as he put the rebound of Julien Gauthier's shot into an open side.

Raddysh picked up Barzal's breakout pass at his own blue line and blew past defenceman Robin Salo to go in alone and score at 1:39.

Barzal came out from behind the net and slipped a backhand between Vehvilainen's pads at 14:28.

And a Canadian power play had just ended when Nicolas Roy won a faceoff in the Finland zone and Gauthier tipped the puck back to Jost to score from the slot at 17:46.

Close-in chances

"It's nice to score when you're trying to get your confidence but Gauthier made great plays on both of those goals and Roy won that faceoff," said Jost. "I thought our line had chemistry and we were using our speed and size.

"I'm the small guy on that line. Those two guys are monsters, so I can really benefit from how big they are and how they work down low."

Both Roy and Gauthier are six-foot-four, while Jost is listed at six-foot.

The Finns woke up in the second frame but could not beat Hart, who was sharp on a pair of close-in chances from Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Kasper Bjorkqvist.

Dillon Dube provoked a turnover in the Finland zone and set up Raddysh in front for his second of the game at 10:06 of the third.

Earlier Monday, Canada named 2015 third overall draft pick Dylan Strome as captain with Barzal and defenceman Thomas Chabot as alternates. All three are among the five players returning from last year's squad.

"It's a tremendous honour," said Strome. "It's one of the coolest things ever to happen for me, but there are a lot of leaders on this team who can step up and be vocal."

Chabot said: "It's special to wear that jersey and to have a letter on it is even more special. I'm glad the coach said I was a good leader."

After the selection camp ended last Wednesday, the team spent four days at the Mont-Tremblant resort for practice and team bonding.

Now they're set on getting ready for the tournament. Canada faces the Czech Repubic on Wednesday in Ottawa and ends pre-tournament play Friday in Toronto against Switzerland.

The Finns play Thursday against the Czechs in Sherbrooke, Que.