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Canada tops Czechs in ice hockey opener

John Tavares scored twice to give defending champion Canada a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Wednesday, the opening day of the Under-20 World Ice Hockey Championship.

In the other Group A match, Sweden beat Slovakia 4-3, while the US routed Kazakhstan 5-1 and Russia downed Finland 7-4 in Group B.

Canada played a cautious game to beat the ambitious host.

Tavares scored at midway through the second period to give Canada the lead.

Canada's Matthew Halischuk doubled the advantage 3:57 into the third.

Tavares added the insurance with 7:02 remaining.

Johan Alcen scored the winner for Sweden with 4:57 remaining after Slovakia rallied with third-period goals by Ivan Rohac and Tomas Marcinko to draw even at 3-3.

The US team overcame an early deficit with five unanswered goals against Kazakhstan.

Alexander Kurshuk gave the Asians the lead on a power play at 14:16, but James van Riemsdyk equalized with three seconds remaining in the first period and Rhett Rakhshani scored the eventual winner 4:58 into the second.

Russia fell behind twice in the first period, but scored five straight to take control 6-2 by 25 seconds into the third period.

Marat Kalimulin was one of seven different Russians to score and also had three assists.
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