PLANO, TEXAS - It took almost 10 minutes for North Bay's Ben Gaudreau to face his first shot, but the final 50 minutes was perhaps a bit tougher than expected as Gaudreau and his Team Canada teammates skated away with a 4-2 victory over Latvia at the IIHF Under-18 World Championships taking place in Texas on Wednesday night.
The Sarnia Sting netminder made 25 saves including a number of key stops in the third period to help Team Canada improve to 2 - 0 at the event.
See related: Gaudreau named to Team Canada's U-18 team
Gaudreau, who is expected to go high in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft has had a tough year due to a lack of game play.
With the recent cancellation of the Ontario Hockey League season, Gaudreau was concerned that lack of playing time would have forced Team Canada to look at other goaltending options.
However, he received the good news that he would be on the Under-18 squad during the Hockey Canada announcement on April 2.
"It’s pretty special especially with how the way the last year has gone," Gaudreau told BayToday prior to his departure for Texas.
"A couple of days before I got the call I was hearing some rumblings and things really started to set in and since then I’ve been very excited and can’t wait to go represent Canada and my hometown's of Corbeil and North Bay."
Gaudreau, a 2019 first-round pick by the Sarnia Sting, got into 28 games with the OHL club last year and finished with a 4.11 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage.
This is not the first opportunity for Gaudreau to wear the Maple Leaf on the international stage.
The former AAA Trappers star netminder also played four games for Team Canada Black at the Under-17 event in the fall of 2019.
