Czech it out: Canadian juniors win 5-0

The Canadian junior team huffed and puffed and finally had enough to blow a few shots past brilliant Czech Republic goalie Petr Mrazek on Wednesday.

The Canadians beat the stingy Mrazek, who plays for the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67’s, 5-0 to improve their 2012 world under-20 championship record to 2-0. Next up for Canada is 0-2 Denmark on Thursday.

About the same time the Canadian juniors arrived at the rink for their game against the Czechs, Finland finished off a 4-1 upset win over the United States in the early game at Rexall Place. That puts Canada into the driver’s seat to advance straight to the semifinals in Calgary next week. The Canadians play their North American rivals on New Year’s Eve to complete the round-robin portion of the tournament.

Canada outshot the Czech Republic 38-26.

Canadian coach Don Hay elected to start Scott Wedgewood of Brampton, Ont. in goal against the Czech Republic and the New Jersey Devils draft pick didn‘t disappoint with a shutout. He also picked up an assist on Brett Connolly‘s second period goal. But it was Mrazek, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, who was the story and kept the game close.

Canada led 1-0 after the first period thanks to Mark Stone’s fourth goal in two games, but Mrazek made 14 saves and stopped Stone on a penalty shot after Czech defenceman Jiri Riha covered the puck with his glove in the crease.

Mrazek, who is second in the OHL with 16 wins, made a couple dandy stops on Canadian breaks in the second period. But finally Ryan Strome scored on the power play and Connolly banged in his own rebound after his initial deke hit the post.

OHL leading scorer Tanner Pearson set up his Barrie Colts teammate Mark Scheifele for Canada’s two goals in the third period. The second Scheifele goal was on the power play.

Canada’s penalty killing was rock solid. It went a perfect 8-for-8 and had to be sharp when the Czechs had two separate 5-on-3 advantages, one in first period for 53 seconds and another in the third for 29 ticks.