Winnipeg Jets: Perfetti and Canada begin their Quest for Gold Tonight

Winnipeg Jets prospect, Cole Perfetti, and Canada have their first game of IIHF WJC tonight against Germany at 5:00 p.m. Central Time.

It feels like a long time ago, but it was just over a year ago when Canada completed an epic comeback against Russia in the Gold Medal game of the 2020 World Junior Championships and took home Gold. This year Canada will look to do the same on home soil and their roster features one of the Winnipeg Jets‘ top prospects.

Cole Perfetti is that top prospect. Perfetti, the Jets’ first round draft pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, will be making his WJC debut against Germany this evening.

Germany is coming into this game after playing Finland last night. Finland features fellow Jets prospects, Ville Heinola and Henri Nikkanen, on their team. Finland won the game 5-3, but Germany performed well considering they only had 14 skaters on their roster for the game. Nikkanen performed extremely well and picked up a goal and assist, while Heinola had an assist and nine shots on net.

As we mentioned above, Germany only had 14 skaters dressed in last night’s game against Finland because some of their players are still in mandatory quarantine after positive COVID-19 tests. As of right now, there is no word on if Germany will get any players back for this evening’s game.

Winnipeg Jets

On the other hand, this is Canada’s first game of the tournament. Canada faced Russia in an exhibition game on Wednesday night where they won 1-0. Perfetti has one assist in the warmup game.

Canada came out of their tune-up game with one major injury as Kirby Datch, their captain, left the game early. Unfortunately for Canada, Datch will miss the rest of the tournament with a wrist injury.

As mentioned in our game preview of Canada’s tuneup game, Perfetti has been skating on the wing alongside Connor McMichael and Peyton Krebs since the final roster has been named. It is expected that these three will play together as a line for tonight’s game.

Canada has a great amount of depth and Perfetti’s line could be matched up against Germany’s third or fourth line. This will be a huge mismatch and it will be interesting to see if Perfetti, Michael, and Kerbs can dictate the game and help lead Canada to victory.

Where to Catch the Game

Canadian Viewers: TSN1, TSN4, and TSN5

American Viewers: NHL Network

Perfetti and Canada’s next game of the WJC will be at the same time tomorrow night against Slovakia.

Winnipeg Jets fans: What is your score prediction for tonight’s game? Leave your comments below!