Canada US World Juniors | Ottawa Citizen

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Undisciplined play cost Canada a shot at finishing atop the Group A standings at the world junior championship.

Power play goals by Cole Hutson, Danny Nelson and Cole Eiserman, plus an empty-netter from captain Ryan Leonard gave the US a 4-1 victory over the home team on New Year’s Eve in front of 18,935 fans at a packed Canadian Tire Centre.

As a result, Canada’s opponent in Thursday’s quarterfinal game will be Czecha – the same team that eliminated the Canadians in the quarterfinals at last year’s World Juniors in Sweden.

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The Americans will face Switzerland, the fourth-seed in Group B, in their quarterfinal game.

Bradly Nadeau had the Canada goal, which was also scored on the powerplay.

Trey Augustine, a second-round Detroit Red Wings draft pick, stopped 38 shots in the win while Carter George made 24 saves in the Canada net.

The Americans had seven man-advantage opportunities while Canada had just three.

The Canadians erased a 1-0 deficit when Nadeau one-timed a pass from Brayden Yager with two seconds left in a penalty Leonard took at the second-period buzzer.

But Nelson put the US back in front a little more than two minutes later, and Eiserman padded the lead at the 13:52 mark of the final period.

Hutson ended George’s shutout streak at 73:02 with a post-and-in, first-period power-play goal he skated over to the penalty box and celebrated in front of Sam Dickinson.

Canada held an 11-5 lead in shots at the conclusion of the chippy opening 20 minutes and a 26-18 edge after two periods.

All teams have Wednesday off.

The concerns about the offence grow

The Canadians outshot opponents 173-110 in four preliminary rounds games.

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They scored just 10 goals, and two of them were empty-netters.

They’re batting average has officially become terrible.

When Dave Cameron spoke to reporters the other day, he predicted the team would bust loose on the weekend.

When they faced Czehia in pre-tournament play, Michael Hrabal, a 6-foot-6 Arizona Coyotes draft pick, was outstanding.

If they don’t start finding their touch soon, there’s a very real chance Canada won’t get to the weekend.

“He was really good in net,” Nadeaul said of Augustine after Tuesday’s loss. “I think we can still get more traffic in front for sure. We’ve just got to keeping chipping, chipping at it.”

“We have guys that can score a lot of goals on this team,” said Tanner Molenkyk. “We’ve just got to start finishing our chances.”

Keep it clean between the whistles, boys

Counting the off-setting calls, Canada was whistled for 11 penalties while the US took seven.

One of the American penalties was a bench minor and another was a roughing call after the buzzer sounded to end the second period.

Canada’s penalties were for all during the play: tripping (three), unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing, interference, holding, cross-checking, hooking, boarding, and elbowing.

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The fans were unhappy with the officiating, but Canada captain Brayden Yager wasn’t pointing fingers. He also doesn’t think it’s a matter of the coaches and players talking about playing a cleaner game against Czechia.

“You can say as much as you want, but it’s not going to change unless we actually do something about it and show it out there,” he said. “I think we’ll be a lot better next game.”

The Canadians were disappointed, but not defeated.

“Obviously, it sucks,” Yager said of the mood in the room. “We did it to ourselves. But this group is a great group, and we know we have to have a short memory and move on to the next game.”

Loud crowd can work both ways

Everybody loves the atmosphere created by what looks to be new record WJC numbers turning up at Canadian Tire Centre to support the home team.

Even the visitors.

“When you’ve got a whole 20,000 people rooting against you, it kind of gets you going, maybe just as much as it gets them going,” said American forward Carey Terrance. “It’s fun. Everyone hates you. No one wants to do it, but we pulled it out tonight.”

Meanwhile, are the Canadians getting over-stimulated by the tremendous support?

Could that help explain some of their undisciplined penalties?

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