Easton Cowan had an assist on one of Canada’s two goals Friday, but he expected more of himself.
Much more.
Cowan, a point-scoring machine for the London Knights who hopes to carry that reputation into the National Hockey League as a Toronto Maple Leafs first-round pick, hogged more than his share of the blame for Friday’s loss to Latvia at the world junior hockey championship.
One sleep later, Cowan denied that nerves or extra-stick squeezing were reasons for him failing to convert on any of his seven shots on goal or his chance in the shootout.
Instead, he spoke of better results ahead.
“My chances are coming,” Cowan said in the lobby of the team hotel Saturday morning. “I feel like I can get to the middle of the ice more. I know I can be better. Especially on the power play, I know I’m way better than that and, yeah, 5-on-5, I know I can be better, too.
“We haven’t scored a lot, and being an older guy, like I said, I know I can be better. So it starts to me.”
With one goal on seven chances in two games so far, Canada’s power play has not clicked as it should with so many talented players.
Cowan expects that to change soon.
“It’s just a lot of players playing different power plays (on their league teams), but we’re coming together,” Cowan said before referring to the Calum Ritchie goal with the man-advantage — he drew an assist — as a sign of things to come. “We got one there, so I think the floodgates will open now. But, like I said, it starts me.”
Asked if he noticed the angst Canadians were feeling with the loss to a team it was supposed to handle, Cowan said it came with the territory.
“There’s a lot of outside noise anywhere you go, so it is what it is,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve said it since I got drafted to Toronto: People are gonna love you and people are gonna hate you no matter what you do in life. So do your thing and you’ve just gotta keep doing it.
“I think it’s just adversity we’ve got a battle. Everyone’s got to battle adversity, you know, losing. So I know we’ll be good. I believe in this team, I’m really confident in this team. I’m just excited for another opportunity against Germany.
“We just stay positive. There’s lots of tournament left. We’re not out of the tournament. We can still clinch first. So that’s our mindset. We’ve just got to capitalize on our chances. We had 60 shots. We know we can play a better game, too, and we also know what our strengths and weaknesses are, so we’ll just work on our weaknesses and get better from there.”
What are the weaknesses?
‘We’ve got to capitalize on our chances,” Cowan said. “Be more defined in the D zone, have a better trap, and we’ll get chances off it.
“We’re good.” he said of the team’s mood. “Everyone’s lost a hockey game before. It’s not fun losing. We all want to win. We all love winning. So that’s what we’re looking to do (Sunday).
Cowan said the addition of Carson Rehkopf — a guy he played with at the world championship last year and a guy he’s played against in the Ontario Hockey League for 3 1/2 seasons — will aid the cause.
“He’s a great player,” Cowan said. “He scores goals. He finds ways. He plays hard, too. If he gets back in, he deserves it. Plays hard, and I know he’ll, he’ll help us out a lot. He finds a way to score every game.”