Canada’s roster suffered a heavy blow in last night’s shocking shootout loss to Latvia at the World Juniors.
Matthew Schaefer, who many believe will be selected first overall in 2025, showed his blazing speed while working a give-and-go with Brayden Yager to get in alone. After being denied on what was an excellent scoring opportunity, he flew into the net and went down ins obvious pain.
Ouch! 🤕
Lourde chute dans la bande pour Matthew Schaefer, qui a quitté et qui n’est toujours pas de retour dans le match 🇨🇦
📺 : RDS#MondialJunior | #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/Gr7mjU6sVJ
— RDS (@RDSca) December 28, 2024
Fans have since been holding their breath, but this morning the Canadians confirmed what many believed was a possibility. The 17-year-old defenceman will miss the remainder of the tournament.
ROSTER UPDATE | Matthew Schaefer will miss the remainder of the #WorldJuniors. 🇨🇦
MISE À JOUR | Matthew Schaefer ratera le reste du #MondialJunior. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/s05ZQ0hzfS
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 28, 2024
Schaefer was quickly impressing at this year’s tournament, registering a goal and an assist through two games. He was the lone 2007 birthyear selected to play on the blue line for Canada. The only two other 2007’s to crack the roster were forward Gavin McKenna and goaltender Jack Ivankovic.
Despite being a defenceman, Schaeffer was expected to provide a fair bit of offensive for the Canadians this season. He’s suited up for 17 games with the OHL’s Eerie Otters so far in 2024-25, registering seven goals and 22 points along with a plus/minus of +21.
Not having Schaeffer could spell disaster for the Canadians, a team many are beginning to question after last night’s shocking loss to Latvia. Despite heavily outshooting their opponent, Canada struggled to find offense, and even went 0-8 in the shootout which resulted in the 3-2 loss.
The Canadians were able to defeat Finland on Boxing Day, however, resulting in their record sitting at 1-0-1. They’ll look to improve upon that tomorrow night versus Germany, a team who has dropped its first two outings of the tournament.
More to come…
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