ÉCJ: Macklin Celebrini’s pace approaches that of Connor Bedard last year

After a hard-fought victory over Finland yesterday, the Canadian team was back in action at the CMJ today, taking on Latvia.

Here’s the line-up for both teams.

Of course, we expected Canada to give Latvia a real beating… and in the end, logic prevailed.

In the first period, Conor Geekie and Brayden Yager both scored to give ÉCJ a 2-0 lead.

Macklin Celebrini amassed two assists in the first period, but his finest play was undoubtedly this sublime pass to Carson Rehkopf.

He didn’t collect a point on the sequence, but still, 10/10 for the effort.

In the second, the Canadian team’s destructive work resumed in earnest, as no less than three goals were scored by ÉCJ.

It all started with a deflection by Owen Allard, who scored his second goal of the tournament.

Then Celebrini went back to work. First, he earned an assist on Rehkopf’s goal, before scoring his fourth of the game.

Not a bad youngster.

And despite a 5-0 lead after 40 minutes, the Canadian team wasn’t about to stop there. In fact, no less than five goals were scored in the third period by ÉCJ.

Here they are, in order. Celebrini earned his fifth point of the game on his team’s ninth goal, once again scored by Rehkopf.

It’s worth noting that despite Team Canada’s 10 goals, Owen Beck didn’t collect a single point. After playing a very big game yesterday, his trio was quieter, but in a game like this, they might not have had the pedal to the metal either.

Final score: 10-0 Canada

The Canadian team will enjoy a day off tomorrow and return to action on Friday, when they take on Sweden at around 1:30pm. Sweden played Latvia yesterday, winning 6-0.

Overtime

Macklin Celebrini’s offensive production is approaching Connor Bedard’s 23 points last year. Celebrini currently has six points in two games, which would give him 21 points in seven games (the same number of games Bedard played last year) if he keeps up the pace.

He won’t be facing Latvia in every game, of course, but Celebrini is showing the full extent of his talent.