The Hlinka Gretzky Cup got underway in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, earlier this week and the Canadians opened up their tournament with a massive 10-0 victory over Switzerland and followed it up with a 4-2 win over Slovakia.
On Wednesday night, Canada and Sweden went head-to-head in a battle for first place in the division and it didn’t take long for the competitive side to come out of both teams. Ahead of the game, Canadian captain Alexis Lafrenière and Sweden’s Tobias Björnfot met at centre ice for the ceremonial faceoff. While there’s an unwritten rule that the home side wins the ceremonial faceoff every time, Björnfot still made Lafrenière work for his victory.
Lafrenière was just going through the motions and was ready to give the puck back after it was dropped but instead it turned into a minor competition before the game even got underway.
