Boxing Day means World Juniors underway, TBL well represented

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 26, 2016

The Boxing Day tradition of the start of the World Junior Championships continued on Monday, with four games kicking off the 2017 tournament.

Tampa Bay Lightning fans will want to pay close attention to Team Canada at this tournament. Of the 10 teams participating in the Under-20 tournament, taking place in Toronto and Montreal this season, Tampa Bay has five players representing the Red and White, by far the most players they’ve ever had representing one team, let alone on Canada, perennial one of the favorites each year

The five Lightning players were all dressed for the tournament opener against Russia – forwards Mitchell Stephens, Taylor Raddysh, Mathieu Joseph, Anthony Cirelli and goaltender Connor Ingram, who served as the backup for the opener to Carter Hart.

While Raddysh, the leading scorer in the Ontario Hockey League with Erie, and Joseph, who leads the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in goals, are playing a top-two line role, Stephens and Cirelli are filling in on the bottom two lines and serving as penalty killers.

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Joseph was active early in the game, showing his speed on a couple of plays rushing up the ice and getting in on the forecheck, but was quiet otherwise for most of the game. He finished with 15:01 of ice time and two shots on goal.

Stephens, who was on last year’s team that finished a disappointing sixth, was his typically blue-collar self, killing penalties and hunting down the puck. Stephens finished with 12:19 of ice time, three shots on goal and a minus-1.

Cirelli might have been the hardest working Canadian player. He took a penalty in the first period with the game 1-1, but otherwise it was an effective outing for the 2015 third-round draft pick. Cirelli logged 11:57 of ice time.

Raddysh was in the middle of a pair of third-period power play goals for Canada, working around the net and crease area. But the leading scorer in the OHL with 61 points did not factor in to the scoring. Raddysh finished with 16:24 of ice time.

Canada is back on the ice Tuesday night against Slovakia at 7:30 p.m., a game that will be aired on NHL Network. After Hart got the start in the first game, it’s a good bet Ingram will get the start in net against Slovakia.

In other Day 1 action:

United States 6, Latvia 1

Sweden 6, Denmark 1

Czech Republic 2, Finland 1{/mprestriction}