Team Canada is in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships. On Tuesday, Canada trounced Switzerland 8-2 at the Key Bank Center in Buffalo, New York, home of the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres.
It was an excellent game for Canada’s third line center Brett Howden of Oakbank, Manitoba. The former first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning had one goal and three assists for four points. So far in the tournament, Howden, who plays for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League, has three goals and three assists for six points and is a +7.
Five other players had a multi-point game for Canada. Victoriaville Tigres left winger and Anaheim Ducks prospect Maxime Comtois of Longueuil, Quebec had one goal and two assists for three points. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles center and Ottawa Senators prospect Drake Batherson of New Minas, Nova Scotia had two goals.
Two Colorado Avalanche blueline prospects notched a goal and an assist. They were Conor Timmins of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds who hails from Thorold, Ontario and Cale Makar of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who is from Calgary, Alberta. Another player who notched a goal and an assist was center Jordan Kyrou of Toronto, Ontario, a prospect of the St. Louis Blues, who plays for the Sarnia Sting.
In the other quarterfinals, the United States beat Russia 4-2, Sweden beat Slovakia 3-2 and the Czech Republic beat Finland 4-3 in a shootout. Canada will play the Czech Republic and the United States will play Sweden in the two semi-finals on Thursday.
