Tavares leads Canada to World Junior win
By Aaron Bell / CHL.ca
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It didn’t take John Tavares long to set the tone for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa.
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The Oshawa Generals’ superstar scored Canada’s first two goals and then set up their third one to kick start Canada’s offence in Friday’s 8-1 win over the Czech Republic.
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Tavares opened the scoring with a powerplay goal in the closing seconds of the first period and then scored again early in the second. He set up Angelo Esposito of the Montreal Juniors for Canada’s third goal a little more than a minute later to put Canada in the driver’s seat.
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“It’s nice to produce,” Tavares said. “I want the coaches to know that they can rely on me and count on me to give an honest hard-working effort. I’m going to do all the little things right and I know then I’ll get my opportunities.”
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Tavares is one of four returning players from last year’s championship team and is expected to the team’s offensive leader this year and based on his performance on Boxing Day, he is geared up for that role.
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“It was nice to score,” Tavares said. “I’m just focused on working hard and doing the right things in all three zones.”
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Canadian coach Pat Quinn said that Tavares took a leadership role after a nervous first period by the Canadian team in front of a World Junior record crowd of more than 19,000 fans at ScotiaBank Place.
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“Our guys were pretty excited,” Quinn said. “We started to loosen up and then John Tavares had a couple of chances and made a terrific play. He was really sharp around the net tonight. He has been good but he had an extra touch in the second period.”
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Quinn admitted that he hadn’t seen much of Tavares before scouting the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge last month but has been impressed with the top rated North American draft prospect.
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“I had never really seen this young man personally prior to this camp,” Quinn said. “He is really strong in the offensive zone. While he’s not blessed with blazing speed he does have a change of pace that freezes guys. He knows how to move the puck and get into the shooting positions that most people can’t do.”
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Defenceman P.K. Subban of the Belleville Bulls said that it will be important for the returning players to step up and take a leadership role with the team and that Tavares did that in the opener against the Czechs.
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“John’s a big player on this team,” Subban said. “Every great team has great players that step up and John knows what he has to do. But he also knows that he’s not alone. He has a lot of supporting guys here that are going to help him.”
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Ryan Ellis of the Windsor Spitfires, Chris diDomenico of the St. John Sea Dogs, Zach Boychuk of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Alex Pietrangelo of the Niagara IceDogs also scored for Canada on Friday. Boychuk and Ellis each had two assists along with Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats, Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion and Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs turned aside 21 shots in the win.
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Canada returns to action on Sunday against Kazakhstan (3:30 p.m. Eastern on TSN and RDS).
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World Junior notebook: Team Canada paid tribute to Luc Bourdon before their opening game on Friday. Bourdon, who represented Canada at two Under-18 and two World Junior tournaments, passed away in a motorcycle accident last May. There was a video tribute on the scoreboard early in the opening period and the Canadian team is wearing an “LB” sticker on their helmets during the tournament. P.K. Subban wears number 6 for the Belleville Bulls but switched to number 5 for this tournament in honour of Bourdon…Earlier in the day, Drayson Bowman of the Spokane Chiefs scored two goals to help the U.S.A. to an 8-2 win over Germany. In other games on Friday Russia defeated Latvia 4-1 and Sweden defeated Finland 3-1.
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Photo: Aaron Bell/CHL