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Nolan Foote paces unbeaten Canada over Finland in pre-world juniors finale

Nolan Foote scored two goals and an assist as Canada's junior men's hockey team beat Finland 4-2 in exhibition play on Monday in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The Canadians open the tourney Thursday against the United States.

Lightning 1st-round pick bags 2 goals, 3 points; Canadians open tourney Thursday

The Canadian Press ·
Forward Nolan Foote scored twice and added an assist to lead Canada to a 4-2 victory over Finland on Monday in its final game ahead of the world junior hockey championship in the Czech Republic. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Nolan Foote had two goals and an assist as Canada's junior men's hockey team beat Finland 4-2 in exhibition play on Monday.

Ty Dellandrea and Kevin Bahl also scored for Canada after Finland had tied it at 2-2 with a pair of goals early in the third. Alexis Lafreniere added two assists for the Canadians, who outshot Finland 32-16.

"The Finns are a strong team. We made some mistakes and the puck ended up in the back of our net," Canada head coach Dale Hunter said. "We had some good looks tonight by every line, and the [defence] was moving the puck quickly. We need to be sharp in this tournament and we're moving in that direction."

Canada finished pre-world junior championship action at 2-0 after wins over Switzerland and reigning tournament champ Finland. The Finns beat Canada in the quarter-finals last year in Vancouver en route to gold.

WATCH | Nolan Foote leads Canada in pre-tourney finale:

Foote leads Canada past Finland in final World Junior tune-up

5 years ago
Duration 0:20
Nolan Foote scores 2 goals and adds and assist in Canada's 4-2 win over Finland.

Joonas Oden and Patrik Puistola beat Canada goalie Joel Hofer for Finland's goals.

Hofer replaced Nico Daws in Canada's net midway through the second. Justus Annunen and Kari Piiroinen split goaltending duties for Finland.

"I thought we responded really well when the Finns came out hard in the third," Bahl said. "You could sense some urgency from the guys and we held them off to get the win."

Canada opens the world juniors on Thursday against the United States at 1 p.m. ET. Finland also begins play on Boxing Day, facing Sweden.

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