Teenage captain Macklin Celebrini scored twice and finished with three points as Canada shut out Italy 6-0 at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday, the report says.
Celebrini, 19, opened his scoring with a one-timer from the right circle after a cross-ice feed from Porter Martone that made it 3-0 with 3:04 remaining in the opening period, per the report. He added his second goal early in the middle period with a backhand shot high into the net at 2:09, and Sidney Crosby logged the first assist on that play, the report says.
Dylan Holloway, Fraser Minten, Evan Bouchard and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for Canada, while goaltender Cam Talbot recorded a shutout with 19 saves, the report says. Holloway and Minten struck 47 seconds apart midway through the first period after Holloway converted a feed from John Tavares and Minten finished on a rebound. Bouchard scored on the power play and O’Reilly added a goal within 25 seconds late in the second period to complete the shutout, the report says.
The victory left Canada 2-0 in Group B in Fribourg after a 5-3 opening-game win over Sweden, and the team is scheduled to face Denmark on Monday, the report says. Italy returned to the top division for the first time since 2022 and was described in the report as a newcomer to this level of the tournament.
The report also summarized other opening-round results: Finland defeated Hungary 4-1 in Group A in Zurich with Aleksander Barkov credited with two assists after missing the season due to injury; Austria beat Britain 5-2 with Peter Schneider scoring twice; and Slovakia edged Norway 2-1 on a Marek Hrivik goal midway through the final period. Later Saturday, Switzerland was set to meet Latvia in Zurich and the Czech Republic was scheduled to play Slovenia in Fribourg, the report says.
