Canada routs Belarus 7-1 in world junior tune-up
Strome paces offence with 2 points
Dylan Strome scored and added an assist as Canada defeated Belarus 7-1 in an exhibition game ahead of the upcoming world junior hockey championship.
Strome scored the first of five first-period goals at Imatra Spa Arena in Finland. Travis Konecny, Brayden Point, Travis Dermott and Jake Virtanen also tallied for Canada in the frame.
Vladislav Goncharov scored the lone Belarusian goal on the power play midway through the second period.
Mitch Marner padded Canada's lead with a power-play goal in the third period and Brendan Perlini rounded out the scoring.
Mason McDonald and Samuel Montembeault split goaltending duties for Canada while netminder Vladislav Verbitski played the entire game for Belarus.
The defending world junior champions outshot Belarus 35-17.
A total of 27 Canadian players made the trip to Finland for the three pre-competition games as the Team Canada brass evaluates who will make the final 23-man roster for the Dec. 26-Jan. 5 tournament.
Canada will continue its exhibition schedule Sunday against the Czech Republic and Sweden on Wednesday.
Canada opens the tournament against the United States on Boxing Day in Helsinki.