Canucks Army Postgame: Canada vs Denmark IIHFC U-20

The Danes stock is rising in the hockey world, but a day like today drives home just how far they’ve left to go. For all their exuberant youth, high end offensive talent and dogged effort, a high-end hockey power the Danish are not.

Meanwhile, the rested Canadians are two-days removed from opening the tournament on a losing note, to their continental rivals from the United States. There’s no doubt the Canadians had every intention of exacting revenge by proxy on the next runner up and it’s hard to argue they didn’t get their beats in on Denmark.

There is no shortage of young talent at the top-end of the Danish lineup. There’s two first year draft eligibles on their first line, including one player with limited experience in the SHL. I did my best to profile some of their work against the Suisse yesterday and left with a positive impression. As I remarked yesterday, the left winger on this loaded first line, Mathias From, is a great skater and he used this to his advantage on the Danes opening tally.

The puck was dumped in on what appeared to be an innocuous enough play at first glance, but From’s retrieval and ability to sneak the puck through a series of Canadian sticks and into the hands of a waiting Alex True set the stage for Denmarks first and only goal.

In spite of losing the territorial battle significantly, the Danes appeared to be hanging in there with the vastly superior Canadians. Of course, this feeling was relatively short lived as the Canadians would find the back of the net just one minute later, courtesy a goal of Canucks Army favourite, Anthony Beauvillier.

Entering the second knotted at one, the Canadians made quick work to pull away from the Danes. The charge was led primarily by fourth overall selection at the 2015 NHL draft, Mitch Marner. For much of the second period, Marner dazzled in the offensive zone, at times with the puck on the proverbial string. On one such occasion, the undersized forward maneuvered around the entire Danish team before banking the puck off John Quenneville and past the Danish netminder.

At this point, the floodgates had opened. Canada would put another three past Denmark in that period alone, including two goals 51 seconds apart, from Matthew Barzal and Lawson Crouse. The third period trudged along slowly enough, with the final marker coming halfway through on a dazzling goal by Dylan Strome in the slot. This was the second such goal for Strome in this tournament, who will appear to figure prominently in the Canadian game plan going forward.