Power is the first Canadian defenceman ever to get three in one game at the world junior championship

After Team Canada coach Dave Cameron called a timeout in the wake of two Czechia goals in less than a minute to take a gut-punch 3-1 lead 12 minutes into the first period Boxing Day, defenceman Owen Power flexed his offensive muscle.

Three goals, en route to a 6-3 win, before a meagre 4,526 fans in the 18,347-seat Rogers Place.

He’s the first Canadian defenceman ever to get three in one game at the world junior championship and we’ve had Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer and Alex Pietrangelo before him.

“First time I’ve ever hat-trick,” said Power.

“Well, maybe when I was first started playing hockey, but I don’t know if you count that. The guys did a good job of getting me the puck and luckily they went in.”

No other defenceman in Canadian history has had a hat-trick. What goes through his mind when he hears that?

“Pretty surprised at that, I had no idea … there’s been a ton of guys play over the years and to do it is pretty special,” said Power.

The simple answer to what impressed Cameron the most about Power was, “the three goals.”

Big laugh there. But then he expanded, and it wasn’t about scoring. It was about defending. About his effortless style. Chris Pronger-type nonchalance almost.

“He came as advertised. It’s his poise with the puck, he’s got a real low panic threshold. He can protect pucks. Just his whole poise,” said Cameron, who has coached in the NHL as well as the world juniors, and he knows what makes the franchise types tick.

The first pick in the NHL Draft looks like Pronger, without the nastiness with his stick, or maybe Alex Pietrangelo or another current-day stud Victor Hedman.

Cameron, who has also coached in the NHL, knows he’s something special. Franchise player. Norris trophy winner.

“His passing, skating, shooting speaks for itself,” said Cameron. “It’s his calmness, the whole balance that he brings, that even-keel. He’s done it at the world’s (men’s, not teenagers), he’s done it at Michigan. He’s started it here at the world juniors and we expect him to continue with that. It’s the ability to play the high-performance game with a calmness. I’m not sure you can teach that.”

“He was a real good box-lacrosse player and he talks about how much that taught him. How to roll off checks, how not to panic when you’re under pressure and that’s turned over to hockey in terms of protecting the puck and how to escape from pressure,” he said.

But compared to Pronger or Pietrangelo, or Hedman. Heavy stuff for a teenager, no?

Are the expectations good or bad for this player?

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Chris Pronger had that mean streak. I don’t see Owen getting to that level, but I coached against and had Alex Pietrangelo on junior teams and I see a lot of similarity there, to escape under pressure.”

Power scored 23 seconds after Cameron had his players in for the first-period chat.

“That timeout was huge, slowed us down,” said Power.

Afer his first goal, the six-foot-five, 214-pound 19-year-old who decided to go back to University of Michigan for a second season rather than take a run at the NHL in Buffalo, added two more on two-man advantages in the second.

Defenceman Olen Zellweger and Donovan Sebrango added the other goals from the back-end while centre Mason McTavish got the first one.

Power slipped in twice on the five-on-three to score on Malek, showing his best trait — his hockey sense to find open space. He has three goals in 18 games at Michigan this season, along with 20 assists, but got his three in 30 minutes on Boxing Day as the home team rallied.

The Czechs, who haven’t won a medal since 2006, had Canada rattled but Cameron either settled them down, or they gave their heads a collective shake. Or both.

There were only 17 shots in the first period but six goals with a helpless Canadian starter Dylan Garand giving up three in seven shots and Malek faring only slightly better with three in 10.

After centre Mason McTavish scored a dazzling Patrick Kane-type goal four minutes in where the Anaheim first-rounder circled from the face-off circle across the blue line, before heading to the net to tuck the puck through the skates of Pavel Novak, and casually deposit it past Malek, the Czechs countered with three in a row.

Centre Michal Gut, who plays for the WHL Everett Silvertips, finished off a two-on-one break to lift it over the diving arm of Garand. At first it appeared the Kamloops goalie had stopped it, but at the first stoppage it was overruled on a video look. Then they scored two in 51 seconds.

Novak, who plays in Kelowna, tipped likely 2022 first-round pick David Jiricek’s shot past Garand. On the next shift, defenceman Stanislav Svozil roared up ice and beat Garand cleanly.

That’s when Cameron called his team together for a fireside chat. He had an attentive audience. Maybe he raised his voice a few decibels but you don’t want to get too carried away with there’s still 48 minutes left.

“We discussed all week as a coaching staff that we didn’t know what to hell to expect in the first 10 minutes (of the tournament). We knew it would be a bit of an adventure and this was junior hockey at its finest,” said Cameron, who has coached in four WJC.

His message during the time-out?

“Settle down, relax, make plays … we had been preaching since day one about managing the puck. The Czechs were willing to give up a chance to get a chance. They had a bit of Russian roulette style and we figured it out and held them to two shots in the second period,” he said. “I just wanted them settle in and play responsible hockey. Don’t try to play the tournament in the first 10 minutes of the first game.”

This ‘n that: Jiricek went down seven minutes into the middle period when he attempted a hit in the neutral zone and had to be helped off the ice, favouring his leg.

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