Flames Un-Signed Star, Johnny Gaudreau and Team North America Suffer First Loss In WCH Pre-Tournament

Coming off two wins over Team Europe, un-signed Calgary Flames forward John Gaudreau and Team North America fell short to Team Czech Republic to end their pre-tournament with 2–1 record.

After notching one goal against Team Europe on September 8th and two goals on September 11th, Johnny Gaudreau is making a big impact on the international stage at the World Cup Of Hockey. Gaudreau proved his worth with an forceful two-way game. There’s a lot of youthful energy on Team North America during the World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament. But it wasn’t quite enough to take a win over the Michael Frolik and Team Czech Republic.

1st Period

With a starting line-up of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jonathan Drouin, it was a surprise to see the Czech Republic open the scoring. The Czechs put a lot of pressure on Team North Americas starting goalie, Matt Murray. Flames forward, Michael Frolik, made quite an impact for Team Czech Republic in the first period during his play on the powerplay. Former Flames player, Roman Cervenka, had a couple of good chances on Team North America’s net, but couldn’t finish. By the end of the first frame, it was obvious that Team North America had some work to do on defence. The Czechs earned two goals in the first period while Team North America came up dry. The score was 2–0 after 20 minutes.

2nd Period

The second period was a lot of back and forth play. Both teams fought hard for position on the ice, possession of the puck, and chances at net. Other than an array of penalties, no goals were scored and the teams looked aggravated at the buzzer. Roman Polak cross-checked McDavid as time wore down and McDavid went face-first into the boards. Luckily, McDavid’s a tough guy and eventually got up to fight through another period. Shots on goal were in favour of Team North America, 16–10, but they couldn’t capitalize on those chances. The scoreboard remained 2–0 after the middle frame.

3rd Period

Again, during the final period, Team North America had plenty of chances on the Czechs net, but they couldn’t solve the goalie. The plays were back and forth again this period, but North America got their chance. They set up a play, took a shot on net, and Auston Matthews picked up the rebound and put Team North America on the board. When Team Czech Republic got a penalty for having too many men on the ice, North America capitalized again to tie the game, 2–2. But the Czechs came back to regain the lead from which Team NA couldn’t recover. Even after the 6 on 4 pressure that North America put on the Czech Republic, Johnny Gaudreau and Team NA fell to Michael Frolik and Team Czech Republic, 3–2.

Team North America will be the team to beat during this tournament, which starts on Saturday, September 17th, when Gaudreau and Team North America get a day off before taking on Team Finland on Sunday. For the most part, Team NA has been working together like a well-oiled machine and we will probably see a lot of that well-oiled machine throughout the entire tournament.

Go Johnny Go!