Dylan Cozens scored a hat trick and had three assists in Canada's 16-2 win over Germany to open the world junior men's hockey championship Saturday. Dawson Mercer, Philip Tomasino, Alex Newhook and Peyton Krebs each scored twice for the host country. Kaiden Guhle, Ryan Suzuki, Jakob Pelletier, Thomas Harley and Connor McMichael also scored for Canada. John Peterka and Florian Elias countered for the Germans in front of Rogers Place devoid of spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada exploited defensive and goaltending mistakes by the fatigued Germans in Saturday's lone Pool A game. Canada's 16 goals in a single tournament game was two back of the record of 18 set in both 1985 and 1986.
Jonas Gahr replaced German starter Arno Tiefensee after one period and allowed 12 goals on 33 shots. Tiefensee gave up four goals on 11 shots following a 45-save outing versus Finland the previous day. Canada's Devon Levi stopped eight of nine shots over two periods for the win. Dylan Garand played the third turning away five of six.
Canada face Slovakia Sunday.