A victory over Latvia was probably a foregone conclusion for Canada’s junior hockey squad, but a 16-0 victory was something most people didn’t expect.

Team Canada picked up right where it left off last year, cruising with momentum and bowling over the Latvians in the first game of the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship. The Canadians outshot the Latvians 66-10 in a game that was viewed by most to be over before it began.

Gabriel Bourque notched a seven point game, with three goals and four assists, and led the way offensively despite being a longshot to make the team in the first place. He managed to impress coaches at a tryout camp two weeks ago in Regina and slipped into the main roster at the last minute.

Maple Leaf draft pick Nazem Kadri has a pair of goals in the game, as did Patrice Cormier of the Rimouski Oceanic and Brandon Kozun of the Calgary Hitmen.

Team Canada’s 16 goals marked the most they had scored in a single game since a 1986 18-3 victory over Poland. It was the team’s biggest shutout victory of all time and Borque’s seven points equaled totals scored by former juniors Dave Andreychuk (in 1983) and Mike Cammaleri (in 2001).

Still, Team Canada does have this game put firmly in perspective. “We have to realize that it was one game and Latvia had a bad game,” coach Willie Desjardins said.

And indeed things will probably be tougher as the tournament progresses, so the Canadians certainly will have to keep their humility in check.

Canada’s next game in the tournament’s round robin goes Monday against Switzerland.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Tags: canada, iihf, latvia, team canada, world juniors

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 2:28 am and is filed under Non-NHL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.