“It Wasn’t Pretty” – Canada Blanks Germany 3-0

Dave Cameron and his players once again found themselves in an uncomfortable position.

Coming off a stunning, embarrassing loss to Latvia some 48 hours earlier at the world junior hockey championship, Canada led another of the sport’s lesser lights by a single goal late in regulation Sunday.

The tournament hosts would get the job done in the end. It wasn’t pretty.

Oliver Bonk, Caden Price and Mathieu Cataford, into the empty net, scored as the wobbly Canadians picked up an unconvincing 3-0 victory over Germany. 

“We’re snake-bitten,” Cameron, at his third world juniors as the country’s head coach, said of the roster’s toothless attack. “We’re getting chances. That’s all you can do … it’ll break.” 

Carter George made 25 saves to register the goaltender’s second straight shutout for Canada, which was coming off Friday’s 3-2 upset loss to Latvia in a shootout. 

Nico Pertuch stopped 33 shots for Germany, which dropped its Group A opener at the men’s under-20 tournament 10-4 to the United States before falling 3-1 to Finland. 

Despite another sub-par performance, the victory sets up a mouth-watering New Year’s Eve matchup against the U.S. for first place in the pool after the Americans fell 4-3 to the Finns in overtime earlier Sunday. 

(CP)