EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) – Draft No. 1 Owen Power had a hat trick to help Canada open the world junior hockey championship with a 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic on Sunday night.
After scoring in the first period, Power scored twice in 1:25 on a two-man power-play midway through the second period to give Canada a 5-3 lead in the Group A game.
Power was taken by the Buffalo Sabers with the first pick in the July Draft. The 6-foot-6 University of Michigan star is the first Canadian defenseman to score three goals in a game of the event.
Earlier, Russia beat Sweden 6-3 in Group B in Red Deer, and Finland edged Germany 3-1 in Group A in Edmonton. At the end of the match, the defending champions USA faced Slovakia in Red Deer in Group B.
Mason McTavish, Donovan Sebrango and Olen Zellweger also scored for Canada, and Cole Perfetti had three assists. Dylan Garand made 14 saves. He signed an entry-level contract with the New York Rangers last week.
Michal Gut, Pavel Novak and Stanislav Svozil scored back-to-back goals to give the Czech Republic a brief 3-1 lead in the first period. Jakub Malex stopped 30 shots.
Sweden’s Theodor Niederbach scored midway through the third period to thwart Russia’s comeback attempt.
After Russian Matvei Michkov scored twice in 41 seconds at the start of the third to reduce the score to 4-3, Niederbach beat goalkeeper Jaroslav Askarov to restore a two-goal margin.
Oskar Olausson, Emil Andrae, Alexander Holtz, Simon Edvinson and Daniel Ljungman also scored for Sweden, and Jesper Wallstedt made 27 saves. Fyodor Svecjkov also scored for Russia and Askarov stopped 13 shots.
“I think we played well,” said Edvinsson, the defenseman drafted sixth overall by Detroit this year. “We were quite lively and had a good frame of mind. The game had its ups and downs, but we were strong in defense and in net as well. “
Samuel Helenius scored twice in Finland’s victory over Germany. Joel Maatta also scored and Leevi Merilainen made 23 saves. Luca Munzenberger scored for Germany and Nikita Quapp stopped 19 shots.
The IIHF board said on Sunday that the same 10 teams from the Premier League will return for the 2023 event in Novosibirsk and Omsk, Russia. Belarus was promoted from Division IA this month, bringing the number of players to 11.
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