It took some time to unlock a resilient German team, but Canada is up and running at this U18 World Championship after reversing its opening day scoreline with an 8-0 victory.

Team captain Cam Allen admitted that the locker room was a much happier place than it had been 24 hours earlier. "We stayed positive. The coaches helped to lead the way there with staying positive and not getting too down," he said. "It was all about mindset, knowing we can bounce back. We know the team we have, the team is confident."

Double goalscorer Matthew Wood felt that the tight schedule helped Canada recover quickly. "It’s a fast tournament, a lot of games in not a lot of days," he said. "You have to have a short memory, come out and battle hard. I think we responded well and we’re rolling now."

Jeff Truite’s team came into Friday’s action with a point to prove after Thursday’s heavy loss against Sweden, and the Canadians grabbed the initiative from the first seconds. Germany took a penalty in the first minute and spent the opening stages fighting fires in front of Leon Willerscheid’s net. By the midpoint of the first period, the shot count was 10-0 for Canada, while Calum Ritchie could add an effort off the piping to that tally. There was brief respite for Germany when Tristan Bertucci took Canada’s first penalty of the day, but the game was largely one-way traffic.

Germany’s resistance was broken by two quick power play goals after Lua Niehus took a major penalty for an illegal hit to the head or neck in the 15th minute. Just 23 seconds later, Canada got the lead when Nick Lardis arrived in space at the foot of the right-hand circle to convert Porter Martone’s feed. Then Wood looked to get the puck to the slot, only for it to come back to him from Andrew Cristall. The finish from the doorstep was emphatic and Germany faced a long road back.

Wood was particularly encouraged by the Canadian power play, which contributed four of the eight goals. "It’s good for our confidence to have our power play clicking," he said. "That’s going to be really crucial going on in the tournament."

The game stats illustrated the challenge facing the underdog. When Canada went up 2-0, Germany had managed just two shots at Carson Bjarnason, back in the Canadian net after he was yanked during the disastrous first period against Sweden.

The pattern of play changed little in the middle frame, with Canada continuing to dictate proceedings and Germany battling to avoid getting overwhelmed. In the end, though, Canada’s power was too much. Lukas Dragicevic extended the lead with a beauty of a coast-to-coast effort midway through the second. 

The defender's effort, which also featured some nifty stick handling to open a shooting lane, was arguably the prettiest of the game, but he was modest about his goal. "It was on the power play so I just had some time and space," he said. "I just got the puck on the net and I was lucky enough for it to go in."

Soon after, Martone’s close-range finish brought the first equal strength tally of the game before Wood claimed his second of the afternoon to make it 5-0 at the second intermission. At that point Germany had just six shots on goal in total, two of them from Linus Brandl, one of the most exciting prospects on his country’s roster.

Early in the third, Willerscheid stopped a penalty shot from Colby Barlow as the pressure on the German net continued. The German goalie, who was part of the 2022 roster but did not get on the ice in Bavaria, finished the day with more than 40 saves – a creditable performance despite the lopsided scoreline. However, he could do little when Calum Ritchie followed up to convert a rebound from Macklin Celebrini’s shot.

On a day when Canada's offence did a great job of gobbling up rebounds, Allen was quick to praise the positional sense of his team-mates.

"Positioning is a huge thing, especially playing with guys you don’t normally play with," he said. "It's just making sure you’re predictable for each other. We just have to make sure we ‘re all coming from our own individual seasons and working as a team."

Celebrini completed a hat-trick of helpers on that play, before Lardis went on to compile a hat-trick of goals as he struck twice late on to complete the scoring.

"We’re far from where we want to be but we’re happy with the result," concluded Allen.