Mason McTavish ties Canadian World Juniors record with four goals in rout of Slovakia

Abraham Smith

Mason McTavish would probably love to play Slovakia in every game at the World Juniors.

In Canada’s 11-1 win over Slovakia on Thursday night, the Ducks pro lit the lamp four times to equal Canada’s single-game WJC record.

After providing two assists in the first period, McTavish produced a natural hat-trick in the second period to score Canada’s sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the night. He added No. 4 in the third period for good measure.

McTavish and his linemates took advantage of glitches in the Slovakian defence. He scored his first goal with a breakaway that was truly a 4-on-0 for Canada after Slovakia turned on Canada’s blue line.

He followed up with a nifty backhand goal after a drop pass from Rangers prospect Brennan Othmann, then completed the hat-trick with a 2-for-0 with Joshua Roy.

McTavish, the #3 overall pick from the 2021 draft, was all over the ice. He showcased his superb passing and exceptional shot as Canada improved to 2-0-0-0 in Group A play.

While still early in the tournament, McTavish and Connor Bedard have been a nightmare for opponents. McTavish has up to eight points in the tournament and Bedard has four to two contests.

McTavish’s four goals isn’t the most by a player in a single World Juniors game, but he’s now ingrained in Canada’s World Juniors record books.

Most goals in a World Juniors game by a Canadian player

McTavish became the seventh Canadian player to score four goals in a game at World Juniors.

Connor Bedard was the last player to achieve this feat. He became the youngest player to hit a fourth pot in a game when he did so at the canceled December tournament. However, this match is considered unofficial as the tournament restarted in August and December results do not count towards the competition.

Year player Goals
Mario Lemieux 1984 4
Simon Gagne 1999 4
Brayden Nice 2011 4
Taylor Raddysh 2017 4
Maxim Comtois 2019 4
Connor Bedard 2022 – unofficially 4
Mason McTavish 2022 4

Most total goals by a player in a World Juniors tournament

Markus Näslund holds the record for the most total goals scored by a player at a World Juniors tournament.

Before joining the Canucks in the NHL, Naslund scored 13 goals for Sweden at the 1993 World Juniors. He finished the tournament with 24 points in seven games played. That wasn’t even the best thing about his team, though; Peter Forsberg led Sweden with 31 points. And that performance wasn’t enough to win gold as Sweden lost to Canada in the gold medal game.

MORE: Team Canada 2022 World Juniors roster, results

A total of 12 players have scored at least 10 goals in a single World Juniors tournament. The feat has not been accomplished since Näslund in 1993.

Year player country Goals
1993 Markus Naslund Sweden 13
1991 Paul Bure soviet union 12
1983 Vladimir Ruzicka Czechoslovakia 12
1984 Raimo Helminen Finland 11
1985 Michko Makela Finland 11
1990 Robert Reichel Czechoslovakia 11
1983 German Volgin soviet union 11
1977 John Anderson Canada 10
1977 Dale McCourt Canada 10
1993 Niklas Sundstrom Sweden 10
1984 Peter Rossol Czechoslovakia 10
1978 Viktor Shkurdyuk soviet union 10

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