Canada ended its pre-tournament World Junior Championship campaign with a 6-5 loss to the United States in overtime on Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson won the game for the Americans in the extra frame with a brilliant wrist shot off a turnover in the Canadian zone by Owen Beck.
Watch every match of the World Junior Championships live on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App.Canada opens its tournament on Boxing Day in Gothenburg, Sweden against Finland at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT.
The two teams traded goals throughout the afternoon with No. 1 prospect MacLean Celebrini scoring for Canada in the opening period.
Those goals were the next best thing to happen to Celebrini on Saturday as FIFA announced the 17-year-old would not be suspended for his goal in Canada's pre-tournament win over Switzerland on Friday.
“Upon review of the incident, the Disciplinary Committee of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships decided that while the penalty for gross misconduct and on-ice misconduct imposed against Canadian MacLean Celebrini was justified, part of the IIHF statement read. “There is no need for further supplementary discipline.” . Celebrini added another goal in the third period.
Ryan Leonard scored twice for the United States. Quinn Finlay, Sam Renzel and Oliver Moore also found the back of the net for the Americans in addition to Hutson's goal in extra time.
Connor Geekie, Matthew Savoie, Jordan Dumais and Owen Allard scored the other goals for Canada along with Celebrini in the opening frame.
Matisse Rousseau and Samuel St. Hilaire split duties for Canada on Saturday while Trey Augustin got the start for the Americans.
After the match, it was officially announced that defense duo Tristan Luneau and Tanner Molendyk would miss the tournament due to injury. Defensemen Jorian Donovan and Ty Nelson will take their places on Canada's active roster. Lono is sidelined due to a viral infection, while Molendyk suffers from an upper body injury that he suffered in Friday's match.
Alain Letang's side finished the pre-tournament match 2-1, having previously beaten the Danish U25 side on December 19 and Switzerland on Friday.
The World Junior Championships officially begin on Boxing Day with Slovakia taking on the Czech Republic at 6:00 AM ET/3:00 AM PT, followed by defending champions Canada and Finland.
