Canada edges Germany to get back into win column at world juniors

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

Coming off a stunning 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.”

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.

“I just want to go out there and do my part to get this team a win,” said George, who took a shot at the empty net that dribbled wide. “We all pitch into the system.”

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.

Canada, which entered with a 17-0 record all-time and a combined 107-26 score against Germany at the world juniors, went more than 120 minutes against a pair of hockey minnows without scoring a goal at 5-on-5.

“It gets a little tense there when it was 1-0 with five minutes left,” said defenceman Tanner Molendyk. “But I thought we handled it well.”

“A little tighter than maybe we would have expected,” added fellow blueliner Sam Dickinson.

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.

Canada suffered one of the worst defeats in the program’s history when Latvia — outscored 41-4 in four previous meetings at the event — shocked the hockey world.

And while the plucky Europeans were full marks for their victory, the Canadians were largely disjointed and surrendered the middle of the ice for long stretches despite firing 57 shots on goal.

There was more of the same Sunday through the two periods.

“It’s a quick turnaround, maybe, from (the Latvia loss),” said Canadian forward Berkly Catton. “That hurt, but we’ve got to be ready.”

Cameron made a couple of changes to his lineup — one out of necessity and another for tactical reasons.

With star defenceman Matthew Schaefer, who could go No. 1 at the 2025 NHL draft, out of the world juniors after suffering an upper-body injury Friday, Vancouver Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio drew in. Cameron also sat forward Porter Martone for Carson Rehkopf.

In other games Sunday, Finland defeated the U.S. 4-3 in overtime, Sweden beat Switzerland 7-5, and Czechia beat Slovakia 4-2.