CanucksArmy World Junior Recap: Canada 8 – Switzerland 2

Team Canada arguably got the easiest possible quarterfinal draw in Switzerland, but their dominant win proved they took their opponents seriously and put in 100 percent of effort. The victory was never in doubt.

Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Brett Howden gave Canada an early lead with a great finish, but Maxime Comtois (Anaheim Ducks) and Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche) deserve at least as much credit for the goal.

Makar was an early standout in the game, as he got his second point of the game – this time a goal – within nine minutes of the first period.

Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators) added another goal to take a comfortable 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

As we’ve seen it before in this tournament, Carter Hart, Team Canada goaltender and Philadelphia Flyers executed what might be the stupidest superstition in all of sports: leaving the ice last even when the Zamboni is already out.

Oh well.

Batherson came out of the intermission to score his second of the night, before St. Louis Blues prospect Jordan Kyrou used his stick for another tally.

Batherson stick hat-trick.

Team Switzerland got a couple as well, but Team Canada was just too strong. Final score: 8-2.

Cale Makar was drafted fourth overall out of the Jr. A Alberta Junior Hockey League. A somewhat risky pick, given the difficulty of evaluating prospects playing against weak competition. But so far, it looks like the Colorado Avalanche got themselves a terrific player.

At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, he also isn’t as tiny as he’s often made out to be, so his chances of finding success in the NHL are solid. He’s an extremely dynamic puck-mover and has been a lot of fun so far in this tournament. That is, anytime he got a chance to play.

While the Vancouver Canucks are looking to add a Makar-type defenceman as soon as possible, to make their Boeser-Pettersson power play even deadlier, the Avalanche already have two that look promising enough to play that kind of role. The second one is Conor Timmins, who has been a standout for Canada throughout the tournament.

In the quarterfinal against Switzerland, Timmins did a terrific job joining the attack and providing offence for his team.

He capped off an excellent game with the 6-1 goal.

He is no Nico Hischier, but Valentin Nussbaumer is another promising underager at the World Juniors. Like Hischier, he cracked the roster a year before hitting draft eligibility, and he’s been one of the team’s most noticeable prospects throughout.

His biggest chance in this game came on a rush in which he beat all Canadians to drive straight through the middle and to the net.

Don’t be shocked to hear his name called early at the 2019 draft.