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PARDUBICE, Czech Republic — Canadian junior phenom John Tavares learned two precious lessons in his team's opening-day victory over the Czech Republic at the world under-20 hockey championship.
First, the glass over the sideboards at the Pardubice Arena is much shorter than he is used to in the Ontario Hockey League. Secondly, no matter how little ice time he gets, he still can be a big contributor.
The 17-year-old sensation from Oakville, Ont., who is the favourite to be selected first overall in the 2009 NHL entry draft, hopped over the boards five times for each of Canada's power-play opportunities and scored twice to lead his team to an important 3-0 victory over the enthusiastic host team. The win was Canada's 19th in a row at the world juniors, a record.
After Tavares redirected a pass from defenceman Logan Pyett to give Canada a 1-0 lead midway through the second period, he skated toward the sideboards, where a group of Canadian fans were wildly cheering among the loud and supportive Czech partisan capacity crowd of 10,057.
Daniel Bartek, left, from the Czech Republic vies for the puck with Josh Godfrey, right, from Canada, during their IIHF World U20 Ice Hockey Championship game in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Wednesday. (Petr David Josek/AP)
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Tavares almost cleared the short glass with his jump for joy.
"I was a little excited," said Tavares, who plays for the OHL's Oshawa Generals. "It was a big moment for me. To do something like that and score the first goal in the game is amazing. I'm a little emotionally drained right now. … I saw all the Canadian fans in the crowd and all their passion. I got on top there and some of the guys were joking with me that I was going for the third row."
It must not be easy for coach Craig Hartsburg to employ the OHL's leading scorer sparingly. But there is precedent for bringing a young player along slowly — one Tavares is no doubt aware of.
Tavares's friend, Sam Gagner, last year played a similar role in Canada's gold-medal triumph, and this season he cracked the Edmonton Oilers' roster as an 18-year-old.
When Tavares and Gagner were younger the two could be found on the Gagner backyard rink going head-to-head almost daily. They still talk three times a week, and before the tournament Gagner gave his friend a pep talk to work hard, mentally stay in the game and play whatever role was thrust upon him.
"I'm not here to show that I'm the best player in the world," Tavares said. "I'm here to contribute and help Canada win. It's not difficult at all because you are representing your country and contributing anyways. With me being so young and learning from the older guys, it has brought me along nicely."
Another 17-year-old star strutted his stuff yesterday, too. Steve Stamkos, expected to be the first pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft, picked up three assists — two on Tavares's goals and the third on Matthew Halischuk's marker early in the second period.
"Both are very creative and showed good poise on our power play," Hartsburg said of Tavares and Stamkos.
The Canadians also enjoyed a strong game physically and were at their stingy best on penalty killing, particularly Brandon Sutter, who blocked several shots.
Jonathan Bernier earned the shutout with 44 saves. Bernier, who opened the season in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, was sharp early, but the Czechs failed to hinder him with traffic later in the game.
"I think we were a little bit nervous," Bernier said. "We needed to score the first goal and we did."
The loss was tough to take for Czech goalie Michal Neuvirth, who faced 30 shots. Canada's penalty killing snuffed out the nine man-advantage situations for the Czechs.
"We had five good scoring chances at the beginning of the game," said Neuvirth, who plays for the OHL's Windsor Spitfires. "But [Bernier] played well and he was a little bit lucky. It sucks to lose."
Hartsburg and his coaching staff went to bed with a difficult decision on their hands: who to start in goal against Slovakia today, in a game that falls less than 17 hours after the team left the arena last night.
Hartsburg said he wasn't close to making his mind up last night whether to stay with Bernier or give backup Steve Mason the start.
