The opening day of the 2023 World Junior Championship had started with an upset win by Switzerland over Finland, followed by a one-sided victory by Sweden over Austria, and then a match between the United States and Latvia that was tied through two periods before Team USA took over. The night came to a close with host nation Canada’s first game, versus 2022’s fourth place team, Czechia.
In the opening minutes, the two teams were just getting a feel for the play, but that quickly changed as they began to test the opposing defence for rush chances.