Maxime Comtois scored four goals and Morgan Frost registered a hat trick as Canada blanked Denmark 14-0 at the world junior hockey championship on Wednesday.
The decisive win marked the first game of the tournament for Canada, which took gold last year.
Owen Tippett and Brett Leason each scored twice in the victory. Jack Studnicka, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and MacKenzie Entwistle also found the net, while Cody Glass tallied four assists.
Canucks prospect and Ottawa 67’s goalie Michael DiPietro made 14 saves to earn the shutout for Canada.
Mads Sogaard of the Medicine Hat Tigers stopped 30-of-41 shots for Denmark before he left the game with an apparent injury midway through the third period.
Canada opened the scoring 4:52 into the game after Leason forced a turnover.
Frost picked up the rubber went one-on-one with Sogaard and deked out the netminder out with some quick hands before slipping the puck under his pads to put Canada up 1-0.
Frost, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect, was dominant across the first period, getting involved each of Canada’s goals.
Less than three minutes after scoring one of his own, the left-winger collected a pass from Glass in front of the net and sliced it across the ice to Tippett at the backdoor.
Tippett rocketed a shot in behind Sogaard, giving Canada a two-goal lead.
With 42 seconds left in the first frame, Frost struck again after defenceman Markus Phillips found him in front of the net.
Frost wound up and fired a blistering shot past the Danish goalie.
The Canadians carried the momentum into the second period, adding another goal just 45 seconds in.
Glass left the puck for Comtois at the top of the face-off circle and the Canadian captain got a quick shot off to put his team up 4-0.
Fifty-five seconds later, DiPietro got a long pass off to Nick Suzuki, who looked like he was about to shoot, then sliced a quick pass to Frost instead.
Frost hammered it in for his third goal of the night.
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The game paused as skaters in toques and plaid shirts gathered the dozens of hats that rained down on the ice in celebration.
Canada got its first man advantage 7:05 into the second after Denmark’s Oliver Kjaer was called for delay of game.
Glass got a beautiful pass of to Studnicka, who put it in past Sogaard.
Canada registered another power-play goal midway through the frame after Danish right-winger Lucas Andersen was put in the box for tripping.
This time, Bouchard found Tippett down low and the Florida Panthers prospect hammered the puck in.
Anderson-Dolan added Canada’s eighth goal of the night with less than a minute to go in the second, poking the puck past Sogaard after a battle in front of the Danish net.
Denmark’s best chance of the night came early in the third frame when Bouchard slashed left-winger Phillip Schultz as he took a shot.
Schultz — who plays for the WHL’s Victoria Royals — got a penalty shot, but DiPietro made the stop with his right blocker.
Canada didn’t let the play interrupt its flow, responding with a rush that saw Comtois notch his second goal of the night.
The Anaheim Ducks prospect finished his hat trick 9:01 into the third period.
Leason put up goals 11 and 12 for Canada before Comtois scored once again with just over five minutes to go.
Entwistle was the final Canadian to score.
Sogaard went down with an apparent injury with seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the game, writhing on the ice before he was helped off by a trainer.
William Rorth stepped into the crease to finish off the game.
Canada will be back in action on Thursday, taking on the Swiss.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
