Canada unravels with poor discipline in Finland

Often times in international tournaments, people complain about officiating. While the game was called tightly this morning between Team Canada and Finland, the officiating wasn't the cause of Canada's 3-2 loss, discipline was.

The young Canadiens got into penalty trouble early, and they never got out of it. It wasn't just a lot of penalties against either, as their PK was guilty of putting them on four 5-on-3 penalty kills.

You just can't win games putting yourself in those kinds of situations, and Finland capitalized twice on those 5-on-3 powerplays. Steve Spott mentioned post game that team Canada needs to be mentally tougher, as he was clearly disappointed with the way Canada ended the game, taking several penalties while being visibly frustrated.

Malcolm Subban was okay today, although the winning goal for Finland was a softy. His raw skill level could be enough to get Canada through this tournament, but it looks like we're still awaiting the tournament when Canada receives Price calibre goaltending. Those Canadian goaltending prospects just aren't there right now.

Jonathan Huberdeau didn't play today due to serving his suspension, but Finland also didn't ice Barkov, so you can't really say Canada was at a disadvantage there.

Brett Ritchie took an awkward hit early on and was held out of the game for precautionary reasons. Coach Steve Spott says he'll be fine.

Charles Hudon was mentioned by both Ray Ferraro and Bob McKenzie has a bright spot for Canada, which is nice to hear for Montreal Canadiens fans. However he wasn't used very often due to all the special teams play, and he was started on the third line with Boone Jenner and J.C. Lipon instead of the second line with Ryan Strome and Brett Ritchie. Hudon also drew an assist on Canada's first goal of the game, and likely would have scored on a break if the Finns didn't knock their own net off.

Dougie Hamilton had a terrible game, getting caught behind the play constantly and taking two really ugly penalties. He needs to get up to speed quickly for Canada as he's going to be relied on a heck of a lot in this tournament.

The goal scorers for Canada were Griffin Reinhart and Mark Scheifele.

Ryan Murphy was named player of the game for Team Canada, even though personally I thought he was ineffective.

Joel Armia was named player of the game for Finland, as he dominated all game and made several great plays.