Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion is making a name for himself with Team Canada.
Hodgson scored a goal and added two assists for the second straight game, leading Canada to a 7-3 win over Finland in a World Junior warm up game at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga on Sunday.
Hodgson, who also had three points in Canada’s win over Sweden on Friday, leads Canada with six points in two exhibition games.
Stefan Della Rovere of the Barrie Colts also had a goal and two assists while Ryan Ellis of the Windsor Spitfires and P.K. Subban of the Belleville Bulls each had a pair of assists in the win.
Nestori Lahde opened the scoring for Finland when he streaked into the Canadian zone and wristed a shot past Canadian goaltender Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs at the midway point of the first period.
Tyler Ennis of the Medicine Hat Tigers evened the score when he buried a cross-crease pass from Hodgson later in the opening frame.
Tomi Sallinen put Finland back in front early in the second period before Hodgson and Brett Sonne of the Calgary Hitmen counted less than a minute apart in the second period to give Canada its first lead of the game.
Jesse Jyrkkio tied the game when his shot from the point was redirected in front of the net on a powerplay early in the third period. Jyri Niemi of the Saskatoon Blades picked up an assist on the goal.
Stefan Della Rovere of the Barrie Colts put Canada back up again minutes later when he deflected a shot from Thomas Hickey of the Seattle Thunderbirds past Finnish goaltender Juha Metsola of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Tavares padded the Canadian lead with a powerplay goal when he buried a cross-crease pass from Hodgson and then Canada broke the game open midway through the third period with a pair of quick goals. Jamie Benn of the Kelowna Rockets banked one in off the back of Metsola’s leg and then Della Rovere set up Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats for Canada’s seventh goal nine seconds later.
Tokarski went the distance for Canada, allowing three goals on 14 shots while Metsola turned aside 23 of 30 shots for Finland.
Evander Kane of the Vancouver Giants was added to the roster on Sunday after Dana Tyrell suffered an injury on Friday and will be unable to play in the tournament. Kane didn’t play on Sunday but is expected to be in the lineup when Canada wraps up its pre-tournament warm-up against Slovakia on Tuesday in Hamilton (7:00 p.m. Eastern on TSN and RDS).
Canada opens the 2009 World Junior Championships on Boxing Day against the Czech Republic.
