Ethan Mackenzie scored the decisive goal midway through the third period and Canada defeated the Czech Republic 7-5 on Friday, starting the world junior hockey championship on the right foot.
MacKenzie scored from the top of the slot following a nice forecheck from Michael Hage, a first-round pick from CH last year.
Hage also took part in the first goal of the match (Brady Martin), in addition to obtaining his team’s second goal.
Zayne Parekh scored twice for Canada.
Tij Iginla also scored, while captain Porter Martone completed in an empty net.
Iginla is the son of Hall of Fame member Jarome Iginla.
Gavin McKenna and Cole Beaudoin each provided two assists, while Carter George made 28 saves.
Tomas Poletin (twice), Vojtech Cihar, Petr Sikora and Tomas Galvas were the scorers for the Czechs.
Vaclav Nestrasil collected three assists. This season, he is second in scoring for the University of Massachusetts.
Michal Orsulak blocked 20 shots.
Martin made it 1-0 at 13:53 in the first period, scoring from the slot off a pass from McKenna.
Martin was drafted fifth overall this year by the Nashville Predators.
A little more than three minutes later, Poletin deflected a shot from Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Benak.
Poletin was a fourth-round pick of the New York Islanders this year.
Hage restored Canada’s lead before the first intermission with a wrist shot.
Cihar created the deadlock in the fifth minute of the second period, redirecting a shot from Benak.
Sikora scored 8:11 later with a quick shot. Nestrasil started the sequence with a pass from behind the net.
Still in the middle period, Parekh leveled at 3-3 with his first goal of the match, with a high shot.
In the third period, he re-edited on the power play. The result of a shot of rare fluidity, for the hope of the Calgary Flames.
A rebound, however, gave Poletin a tying goal at 5:21.
One minute and 11 seconds, Iginla’s goal followed a clever delivery from Michael Misa, entering the zone.
Misa was drafted second overall this year, by San Jose.
MacKenzie hit the mark midway through the period. Galvas made things worse, but Martone finished in an abandoned net.
Looking for a 21e gold medal at the tournament, Canada wants to shine after eliminations in the quarter-finals during the last two editions (in Sweden and Ottawa).
The Czechs finished third two years in a row.
One of their assistants this year is Robert Reichel, author of 630 points in the NHL, in 830 games.
Canada will play again on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., against Latvia.