WJC: Gauthier, Roy Score in Canada Blowout

The goal horn at Air Canada Centre got a workout last night.
Canada followed up its dominant win against Slovakia by dropping a 10-spot on Latvia on Thursday night, improving to 3-0-0 in Group B play at the 2017 World Junior Championship.
Lightning prospect Taylor Raddysh grabbed the headlines, netting four goals and adding an assist, but Hurricanes prospects Nicolas Roy and Julien Gauthier got in on the action as well.

After Gauthier helped Canada maintain possession on the power play, Roy parked himself in front of Latvian netminder Mareks Mitens and redirected a Phillipe Myers point shot
to put the Canadians up 2-0 11:54 into the opening period
.
Gauthier completed Canada's scoring by finishing a beautiful three-way-passing play with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome with 1:55 left in the game.

Hurricanes first-rounder Jake Bean was plus-1 for the game, skating 16:38 of ice time. Check out this pretty cool promotion from RBC Bank in Canada, where Bean organized a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House.

Finland Needs Help
Earlier in the evening, the hole for the defending champs got deeper, as Finland fell to Sweden to drop to 0-3-0 for the tournament, and the Cinderella-story of group play, Denmark, topped the Czech Republic in overtime.

Finland will need the Danes to get it done today in order to avoid the relegation round. Denmark takes on Switzerland today at 5 p.m. If Denmark wins, Finland can still advance with a win against the Swiss on Saturday.
Hurricanes second-round selection Janne Kuokkanen was even in 10:13 of ice time during Finland's loss to Sweden.
New Year's Eve is Rivalry Night
When the schedule for the 2017 World Junior Championship came out, many expected (hoped?) that the New Year's Eve showdown between the United States and Canada would be for the top seed coming out of Group B. With the United States topping Russia 3-2 on Thursday night, that's exactly what is happening.

The Americans and Canadians will face-off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, for some nice afternoon viewing on NHL Network prior to the Hurricanes-Lightning game Saturday night on FOX Sports Carolinas. Should Finland work its way back into the medal round, the winner of the U.S.-Canada showdown would be rewarded with a matchup against the defending champions in the quarterfinals.
Schedule: Hurricanes Prospects in the 2017 World Junior Championship
December 26
Czech Republic 2, Finland 1
Canada 5, Russia 3
Recap: Roy's Goal Highlights Canada's Opening Win
December 27
Denmark 3, Finland 2
Canada 5, Slovakia 0
Recap: Gauthier Out-Shoots Slovakia & Aho Looks Back
December 29
Sweden 3, Finland 1
Canada 10, Latvia 2
December 31
3:30 p.m.: Canada vs. United States (NHL Network/TSN)
6 p.m.: Finland vs. Switzerland (NHL Network/TSN)
January 2
Quarterfinals
January 4
Semifinals
January 5
3:30 p.m.: Bronze medal game
8 p.m.: Gold medal game