Celebrini’s 5 points power Canada to blowout win over Latvia at world juniors

Macklin Celebrini knew there would be lots of eyes on him in Sweden.

The presumptive top pick at the 2024 NHL draft hasn’t blinked.

Celebrini had a goal and four assists in a dominant performance from start to finish as Canada hammered Latvia 10-0 at the world junior hockey championship on Wednesday.

“Making this team, it was an honour, a childhood dream,” said the 17-year-old from Vancouver. “I’m just trying to enjoy it and do whatever I can to help us win.”

Celebrini’s five points were two short of the national record for a single game at the under-20 tournament — a mark held by six players, including Connor Bedard at the 2023 event in Halifax.

“Really special doing this at a young age,” said Matthew Wood, whose goal and two assists were overshadowed by his linemate. “His habits are unbelievable, his skill’s unbelievable.

“The real deal.”

Conor Geekie and Carson Rehkopf, with two each, also scored for Canada, while Fraser Minten and Brayden Yager both had a goal and an assist.

Owen Allard and Matthew Poitras rounded out the deluge, while Denton Mateychuk and Ty Nelson had two assists apiece.

Mathis Rousseau made 22 saves for the shutout less than 30 hours after leading the Canadians to a 5-2 victory over Finland in their opener.

Linards Feldbergs allowed seven goals on 31 shots for the overmatched Latvians, who dropped their first game 6-0 to hosts Sweden, before getting chased early in the third period. Aksels Ozols made seven saves on 10 shots after Feldbergs got the mercy pull.

Canada is in Group A with the Finns, Swedes, Latvians and Germany. Group B consists of the United States, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Norway.

Looking for a third straight gold medal despite missing an impressive list of NHL talent, with Bedard right at the top, Canada entered Wednesday’s game with a 3-0 record against Latvia all-time with a combined 31-4 scoreline, including a 16-0 victory on Dec. 26, 2009.

Things weren’t quite that bad on this night. The Latvians, unsurprisingly, were also never close.

Geekie got things going five seconds into a Canadian power play at 5:19 of the opening period when he snapped his first of the tournament past Feldbergs from almost the same spot where he always ends his warmup routine.

Ty Nelson was then assessed a major for kneeing on a phantom call that resulted in a long delay — the DJ at Scandinavium arena played the song “What’s Up?” by 1990s group 4 Non Blondes that includes the lyric “What’s going on?” — that eventually saw the defenceman’s penalty completely expunged following a glacial video review.

“It was going to be probably overturned,” Letang said. “But you never know what their thought process is.”

Celebrini picked up his second assist of the period at 7:11 when he moved over the blue line and fed Yager, who fired his first glove side.

Latvia survived a 5-on-3 power play early in the middle period, but Allard scored his second with Canada still up a man on a deflection at 1:30.

Rehkopf, who started the tournament as the 13th forward despite having 31 goals in 31 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, scored his first when he stepped past a defender with ease and slid the puck home at 4:46 for a 4-0 lead.

“He’s got 31 for a reason,” Geekie said. “Goal-scorer’s goal.”

Celebrini stretched the advantage to five when he buried his second on a breakaway after collecting an inch-perfect pass from Wood and finishing with a move to the backhand at 10:56.

“I was calling for it, but that landed right on my tape,” Celebrini said. “I don’t know how he got that to me.”

Then the floodgates really opened.

Minten and Wood scored early in the third to chase Feldbergs before Geekie and Rehkopf doubled their accounts, with Celebrini picking up his fifth point on Canada’s 9-0 goal.

Poitras made it an even 10 with nine minutes left in regulation as the red-clad contingent in the stands sang late into the Gothenburg night.

“There’s a sense of pride,” Celebrini said. “Special to have the support.”

No pressure

Those fans also know they have a special player.

“There’s pressure until you’re on the ice, and then it’s just hockey,” Celebrini added. “I just like to play my game and play with my teammates.

“They make it fun. You forget about all that.”

It was a night he won’t soon forget.

Canada celebrates goals with Newfoundland song

For the second year in a row, Team Canada is celebrating its goals at the world junior ice hockey championship with a song from Newfoundland.

“Ordinary Day” by Great Big Sea blasted five times from the arena speakers in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Tuesday as Team Canada played to a 5-2 victory against Finland.

He says the upbeat, trad rock song was suggested by team doctor R.J. MacKenzie, who hails from Cape Breton, N.S.

Salmond says the song choice is taken very seriously, and this year managers and other staff spent about two weeks sifting through the contenders before settling on “Ordinary Day.”

Last year, Team Canada used “Heave Away” by Newfoundland and Labrador band The Fables, and it climbed to No. 12 on the Spotify Viral 50 Canada chart by the end of the tournament.

Germany stuns Finland

Earlier, Veit Oswald scored twice, including the eventual winner, as Germany held off Finland for a 4-3 upset win.

Oswald broke in on the net alone after Finnish defenceman Jesse Pulkkinen lost his edge on the ice and fell.

The German forward then snapped the puck past goalie Niklas Kokko with 5:22 left in the second period.

Roman Kechter and Niklas Hubner also scored and Philipp Dietl made 40 saves for Germany (1-0), which beat Finland for the first time at the world junior championship.

Finland had a 25-0 record with a 141-31 goal differential against the Germans dating back to the inaugural championship in 1977.

Also, Slovakia blanked Switzerland 3-0 behind 36 saves from goalie Adam Gajan, while Jiri Kulich and Eduard Sale each had a hat trick as the Czech Republic routed Norway 8-0.