Michael Hage gives Canada the win in overtime at the WJC

Vincent Larue
Michael Hage gives Canada the win in overtime at the WJC
Credit: screenshot

Canada faced Latvia in their second game of the World Junior Hockey Championship.

A year ago to the day, Latvia caused a surprise by beating Canada.

Michael Hage remained on the same line, accompanied by Gavin McKenna and Brady Martin. Caleb Desnoyers made his tournament debut on the left side of the third line.

Here's the line-up for Team Canadiens:

On the Latvian side, no changes have been made.

Here is the Latvian line-up:

Junior hockey fans didn't have much to get their teeth into in the first period. The Canadian team came out strong, firing 11 shots on target to Latvia's 7.

The Latvians soon realized that they would have to sacrifice body and soul to stay in the game. Several shots were blocked by the Latvian players.

Despite a powerplay at the end of the period in Canada's favor, after twenty minutes of play it was 0-0.

At the start of the second period, Martins Klaucans received a five-minute major penalty and expulsion for illegal checking on Zayne Parekh. At first, the check appeared to be legal, but after checking, both skates of the offending player left the rink before he hit the head of the Canadiens defenseman.

The Calgary Flames defenseman remained in the game, albeit shaken.

Team Canadiens seized the opportunity in the opening moments of this powerplay to open the scoring.

Cole Reschny returned to the basics of hockey. The latter cut into the slot before unleashing a veiled shot that foiled the Latvian goalkeeper.

Canada's turn to be punished four minutes for high sticking. Ben Danford was caught off guard and that led to the high stick.

The Latvian team failed to capitalize, despite several quality scoring chances.

It was 1-0 after the second period.

Caleb Desnoyers came close to doubling Canada's lead and seemed to have the Latvian keeper at his mercy, but Nils Maurins followed him to perfection and made the save with the tip of his pad.

With less than five minutes to go, Michael Hage served a clever pass to Brady Martin, but the latter hit the crossbar.

History repeated itself this year! Latvia tied the game with less than two minutes to go.

Rudolfs Berzkalns pounced on a rebound and beat the Canadiens' goalkeeper in the process. The game went into overtime.

Michael Hage played the hero in overtime, scoring a superb goal while the team was on the powerplay.

A precise, powerful shot on the rebound.

Final score: 2-1 in overtime in favor of Team Canadiens.

Team Canada will cross swords with the Canadiens on Monday evening, at 7:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. Montreal time) in their third preliminary game.


overtime

– Michael Hage was used a grand total of, and was Team Canada Junior's best forward.

As for Québécois player Caleb Desnoyers, he had a decent game with no points, but was solid defensively with a few scoring chances. This could keep him in the lineup for the next game.

– Canadiens captain Porter Martone was a real leader this time around, behaving in the right way. He played simply and, above all, he was disciplined. Martone received a penalty in the last game for an unsportsmanlike gesture.

– A gesture likely to be reviewed after the match by the officials. Cole Beaudoin made a very dangerous check to the head of a Latvian forward, but was not punished. But moments before, Klaucans was sent off for a similar check.

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