Saturday, May 4 | 5 pm MT | Calgary, Alberta | Preliminary Round
Canada’s National Para Hockey Team is set to drop the puck at the 2024 World Para Hockey Championship, welcoming Japan to WinSport Arena on Saturday to get preliminary-round play started in Group B.
Last Game
Canada closed out its brief two-game series against the United States with a 4-1 loss on April 5 on the same Calgary ice that will host the Para Worlds. Liam Hickey provided the lone goal for the Canadians, who got 16 saves from Adam Kingsmill in defeat.
Results from the 2023-24 season are scarce for the Japanese, so let’s go back to the 2023 Pool B Para Worlds, when they booked their place in Pool A with an unbeaten run in Astana, Kazakhstan. They capped the tournament with an 8-0 win over Finland in their round-robin finale, getting two goals and two assists from captain Masaharu Kumagai.
Last Meeting
You have to go all the way back to the prelim opener at the 2015 worlds in Buffalo, when Canada romped to its second-biggest victory ever, 17-0. Greg Westlake – who is on the Canadian staff as an assistant coach in Calgary – finished with five goals and three assists, Brad Bowden added three goals and five helpers and Canada scored 12 goals in the opening 15 minutes.
What to Watch
Tyler McGregor loves the big stage. The Canadian captain has led or co-led Canada in scoring at each of the last three world championships – in 2019 (6-7—13), 2021 (8-3—11) and 2023 (4-6—10) – and he finished second to Adam Dixon in 2017 (12-5—17). McGregor comes into Para Worlds needing just three goals to pass Bowden for the third-most in Team Canada history (128).
Kumagai is the offensive star for Japan. He led the way a year ago in Astana with 11 goals and six assists in five games, including a seven-goal, eight-point outing against Great Britain, and his totals don’t include a crucial goal in the shootout against Slovakia, a win that all but clinched a place in Pool A for the Asian side.
A Look Back
Canada has owned the head-to-head history, winning 22 of 23 games and outscoring Japan 164-18.
Remember the note above about the 17-0 win in 2015 being the SECOND-biggest ever? The largest margin of victory for Canada came in 2010 – an 18-0 rout in Rochester, New York. Dixon led the charge with three goals and three assists for the Canadians, who racked up 53 shots on goal.
All-time record: Canada leads 22-1 Canada goals: 164 Japan goals: 18
