Despite a victory against Germany, Canada was very unconvincing.

After the famous defeat on Friday against Latvia, Canada wanted to forget this poor performance and faced Germany this Sunday evening.

In addition to losing the match and the confidence of several fans, the Canadians also lost the services of 18-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer.

A clavicle fracture forces him to withdraw from this important international tournament for one of the best prospects in the upcoming draft.

Here is the Canadian lineup ahead of this confrontation:

Here we go.

Let’s go. #WorldJuniors | #MondialJunior pic.twitter.com/qxnW8TZhX5

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 29, 2024

Schaefer was the quarterback of the power play, but with his absence, it was Oliver Bonk who had to take his place at the point.

Generally, Bonk is used in the bumper position during power plays and ultimately that’s where he was employed for the match against the Germans.

And this decision paid off midway through the first period for Canada as Bonk opened the scoring on the power play.

Bonk on the power play!

Bonk on the power play! #WorldJuniors | #MondialJuniorpic.twitter.com/0sgvrTI8zg

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 30, 2024

The AN was running well throughout the match, the puck was circulating nicely and the chances were there, but not the finishing touch.

Germany was very undisciplined, especially in the first two periods. Fortunately for them, Canada did not capitalize as much as they should have.

The absence of Schaefer clearly does not help, but nothing indicates that he would have changed everything.

They still lack offensive punch, despite the fact that the club is very well endowed.

It’s good to balance the lines and have “veterans” aged 19. But when you can have guys as talented as Beckett Sennecke, Carter Yakemchuk, and Zayne Parekh, you can afford to remove veterans.

Some thinkers at Team Canada will need to rethink their approach. They left a slew of talented 18-year-olds at home, opting to keep more older players. A guy like Beckett Sennecke stands a good chance of playing in the NHL as early as next year…

— Anthony Marcotte (@anthonymarcotte) December 30, 2024

As Michel Bouchard says, you can’t just have veterans and players with a supportive role.

ECJ: choosing “role players” rather than prioritizing talent makes life easier for the opponent. Canada can send 12 top 3 guys against nations struggling to have even a single quality line. But we absolutely want 4th line grinders…

— Michel Bouchard (@bouchardmichel) December 30, 2024

Sennecke could very well have made the team and is not one-dimensional. In my opinion, this is the worst oversight for Team Canada.

Whether without or with the puck, he is very dangerous and intense.

The intensity is severely lacking in this edition of Team Canada. The talent is there, obviously, but without the grit and the will to win, it creates disappointments like against Latvia.

In the first two periods, the shot count was very close between the two countries. However, Dave Cameron must have shaken things up during the second intermission, as the third period belonged to the Canadians. 17 shots compared to only 7 in the final period.

Just when there hadn’t really been any action since Bonk’s goal, with five minutes to play, Canada provided a cushion for their goalie Carter George.

It was very lucky, but Canada took advantage of a good bounce to double their lead.

Caden Price was the author of the goal, while Calum Ritchie and Sawyer Mynio each got an assist on the goal.

CADEN PRICE GETS A LUCKY BOUNCE TO GO HIS WAY

Canada leads 2-0.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/FHGJb5xuqx

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 30, 2024

Finally, the match ended with a score of 3-0 thanks to an empty-net goal from Quebecer Mathieu Cataford. Goalie George earned an assist on that goal.

Canada is now tied with the United States for first place in the group.

The next match for the Canadians will be this Tuesday against the Americans.

Quick Hits
– Mario Lemieux is still ahead of Crosby in my opinion.

Who’s the greatest Penguin of all-time? #LetsGoPens

— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) December 30, 2024

– Uff…

A tenth consecutive loss for the Raptorshttps://t.co/M0CRDiC3Hs

— RDS (@RDSca) December 30, 2024

– It’s incredible nonetheless.

Random Kaapo Kakko stat we noticed:

He’s played 13 games in his career where he’s been on the ice for 65% of the powerplay time or more.

In those 13 games, he has 7 powerplay points and 11 total points.

9 of those 13 games happened in the first 2 months of his career

— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) December 30, 2024

– To listen

Listen to Martin McGuire and Louis Jean revisiting the victory of the Tricolore, along with post-game comments from Samuel Montembeault and Martin St-Louis.https://t.co/tNg3bTiKP6

— 98.5 Sports (@985Sports) December 30, 2024