Connor Bedard puts on another show as Canada beat Austria

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HALIFAX — Connor Bedard had two goals and four assists as Canada beat Austria 11-0 for the host nation’s second straight victory at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Thursday.

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The 17-year-old phenom tied Jordan Eberle for the national record with his 14th career goal in the men’s under-20 event.

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Logan Stankoven added a goal and three assists, while Nathan Gaucher and Adam Fantilli had a goal and two assists. Joshua Roy, with a goal and an assist, Dylan Guenther, Shane Wright, Zach Dean, Nolan Allan and Tyson Hinds also scored.

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Benjamin Gaudreau made 12 saves for the shutout.

Benedikt Oschgan stopped 36 shots for the poorly outclassed Austrians, who were outscored 31-0 in their three games.

Canada was held up 5-2 by the Czechs in Monday’s opener before bouncing back with an emphatic 11-2 victory over Germany on Wednesday.

Sweden lead Group A with eight points, followed by seven from the Czech Republic and six from Canada with one game to play for each side.

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The Canadians will meet the Swedes on New Year’s Eve, while the Czech Republic — the country commonly referred to as the Czech Republic — will face the Germans.

Bedard equaled Canada’s single-game record with seven points against Germany, and entered Thursday tied with John Tavares, Eric Lindros and Jeff Carter with 12 combined goals in his world junior career – two short of the record national of Eberle.

Slated to be number one in the 2023 NHL Draft, Bedard scored four times against Austria in an 11-2 triumph at last year’s world junior championships in Edmonton before the event was suspended until in August due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

Coached by Nova Scotia native Kirk Furey, the outclassed Austrians lost 11-0 to Sweden in their opener before losing 9-0 to Czechia on Tuesday, but earned full marks for their leaving Thursday.

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A roster comprised of nine first-round NHL Draft picks, along with presumed 2023 top-5 selections, Canada’s Bedard and Fantilli had a tentative open against the European lightweights, recording a lone shot over the course of of the first 14 minutes of the match.

Then the Canadiens went to their first power play and never looked back.

Guenther, who scored a hat trick against Germany – all on Bedard’s sons – kicked things off with a no-look pass between the legs of Brennan Othmann.

Dean, who was given a match penalty and a game misconduct for an illegal head check in Canada’s curtain-raiser loss, broke his first before Wright netted his third of the tournament on another men’s advantage from a Bedard setup for a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes.

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Roy scored his second after restarting a fine pass from Brandt Clarke before Bedard, who scored three goals against Germany and leads the tournament in scoring, got to work on another scoring effort when he covered an upstairs shot from a neighbor. -impossible angle which had to be confirmed by a video review

Allan then made it 6-0 on a straight shot from the point and Stankoven added his second tight shot on another streak that required video review.

Fantilli scored his first goal of the tournament on the power play early in the third to extend Canada’s lead to 8-0.

Gaucher added his first before Bedard netted his sixth and 14th overall, on a play where Stankoven pushed the puck forward on a face-off in the offensive zone to his diving teammate.

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Hinds completed the rout with his first out of the race.

BACK FUREY

The Glace Bay, Nova Scotia product, who had a long career as a professional based in Europe before taking up coaching in Austria, spoke before the game about how he hoped his players would enjoy their moment in the spotlight in his native province, passionate about hockey. and country.

« For me personally, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, » said Furey, whose team faces Germany on Friday to wrap up its preliminary round schedule. “But more importantly, I’m really excited for the players. These children do not have this opportunity very often.

“It’s pretty special here in Halifax.