Easton Cowan scored a hat trick to lead Canada to a 7-1 win over Switzerland on Thursday in a pre-tournament game ahead of the world junior hockey championship.
Canada pulled away with three goals in an 82-second span late in the first period at TD Place.
Brayden Yager, Andrew Gibson, Berkly Catton and Caden Price had the other goals for the host side.
“I felt like I played well defensively which led to the offensive chances, and I was happy with that and obviously was able to find the back of the net,” Cowan said.
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Leo Braillard scored for Switzerland.
“We were able to generate some offence after the first few minutes, which generated some emotion from our guys and we were able to build our game from there,” said Canadian head coach Dave Cameron.
It was the first of three warm-up games for the Canadians, who will play Sweden on Saturday.
In the other pre-tournament game, Germany blanked Kazakhstan 4-0 in Arnprior, Ont.
Canada will play Finland in the preliminary-round opener on Boxing Day at Canadian Tire Centre.
