Canada shook off a slow start that saw the team trail 1-0 after the first period, scoring three goals in the second and defeating Slovenia, 5-2 in the first game in Riga this afternoon. 

The win moves Canada to 2-0 while Slovenia drops to 0-2. 

Canadian defender Mackenzie Weegar had a goal and two assists and now leads the tournament in scoring with six points in two games.

Canada outshot Slovenia, 51-24, and every Canadian player had at least one. Slovenian goalie Luka Gracnar was fantastic in defeat, while 21-year-old Devon Levi, who was Canada's starting goalie at the 2021 World Juniors, was less busy at the other end.

"I thought, especially in the first period, we were really solid in our d-zone, keeping them to the outside, but in the second we lost a little momentum because of our penalties, and against a team like that with world-class players, it's hard to find it again," Gracnar offered. "We came back strong in the third and played a pretty even period, but we broke down for two minutes and they scored twice. When we are on our game, we can play with anyone, but against a team like Canada you have to be on your A game for 60 minutes. If you let down, they will punish you."

"I think we had a little bit of a slow start today, but by the end of the game we were a lot better," said Canada's Adam Fantilli. "We're trying to improve every game."

Slovenia got the only goal of the opening period, and it came on an early power play. Milan Lucic took a tripping minor at 3:40, and just ten seconds later Slovenia capitalized. The play started when Miha Verlic’s shot hit a tangle of players in front, and from the mess Jan Drozg found the puck and pushed it over the line.

Canada dominated the rest of the period but the Slovenes did a great job containing Canada, keeping them to the outside mostly and collapsing around their goalie, veteran Gracnar. 

But Canada came out firing in the second. Although they failed to convert an early power play, they got their first a few seconds later thanks to a quick-handed play by Jack McBain inside the Slovenia blue line. He batted a clearing attempt out of the air and controlled the puck, and Michael Carcone snapped a shot that caromed off the glove of Gracnar and in at 1:13.

Six minutes later, Canada took its first lead. Gracnar made a fantastic save off Fantilli’s original shot, but the puck came back to the line and Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s long shot went all the way. The Canadians added a third goal late in the frame on a power play, when Lucic banged in a rebound from the blue ice off a Cody Glass point shot. 

Canada had the game well in hand, but the third was marked by a spasm of three goals in 71 seconds. It started with Weegar walking in off the point and backhanding a shot through traffic at 13:59. Just 51 seconds later, McBain got his second, collecting a loose puck in front after an unsuccessful jam try by Carcone.

And then 20 seconds after that, Slovenia make it 5-2 on an error by Justin Barron. Skating back on an icing call, he had the puck hop over his stick and Drozg was right there to snap it in past an unsuspecting Levi.