Canada's Raddysh joins legendary company with 4 goals at world juniors

There’s a few things Canadians have come to expect at this time of the year: Snow, presents, and world junior blowouts.

The national team was at it again Thursday, pumping Latvia with 10 goals, including four from Taylor Raddysh, who became only the fourth player in the history of the world junior tournament to score that many goals in a game for Canada. The other three in the exclusive group – Brayden Schenn (2011), Simon Gagne (1999), and some dude named Mario Lemieux (1983) – all went on to have fantastic (and in Lemieux’s case, Hall of Fame) NHL careers.

Schenn posted his four tallies in a 10-2 pounding over Norway, as the Canucks went on to grab a silver in Buffalo in 2011. Gagne got his four in a 12-2 win against a (not-so) powerhouse Kazakhstan club and Canada once again took home silver, while Lemieux’s performance in a 13-0 win over Norway in 1983 led to a bronze for the red and white.

Raddysh’s play in the pre-tournament tune-ups earned him a spot among Canada’s top group of forwards after he wasn’t even invited to this summer’s orientation camp. The 2016 Lightning second rounder was considered an afterthought by Team Canada brass before storming out of the gate in the Ontario Hockey League this season with an obscene 61 points in 28 games.

Canada thumped Latvia 10-2 behind Raddysh’s big night, improving to 3-0 ahead of Saturday’s showdown with the United States.