{"id":19481,"date":"2018-01-03T16:36:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T21:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19481"},"modified":"2018-01-03T16:36:37","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T21:36:37","slug":"formenton-thomas-help-canada-to-top-of-world-junior-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/formenton-thomas-help-canada-to-top-of-world-junior-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Formenton, Thomas help Canada to top of World Junior group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It took Robert Thomas just over five minutes in the red and white to notch his first ever World Junior Championship point.<br \/>\nJust seconds after killing off an early penalty, the Aurora native sent Boris Katchouk in alone on the Finnish goaltender on Boxing Day, in front of a crowd of almost 10,000, to open Canada\u2019s 2018 Under-20 Worlds campaign.<br \/>\nFollowing a 4 \u2013 2 win over Team Finland in the opening game of the tournament, and a 6 \u2013 0 drubbing of Slovakia, the table was set for a battle of epic proportions on the World Junior stage.<br \/>\nClose to 45,000 fans, many donning the maple leaf, filled New Era Field in Buffalo for the tournament\u2019s first-ever outdoor game, where Thomas etched his name in history early on.<br \/>\nEarning time on a powerplay just a few minutes in, Thomas set up Cale Makar for the game\u2019s first goal, though the United States eventually took the game in a shootout 4 \u2013 3.<br \/>\nBoth Thomas and ex-Aurora Tiger Alex Formenton got on the scoreboard in Canada\u2019s final round robin matchup, an 8 \u2013 0 romping of the Danes. Thomas opened the scoring in the first period, capitalizing on a drop pass from Caledon\u2019s Taylor Raddysh, while Formenton found twine high over the Danish goaltender\u2019s shoulder on a breakaway in the second period.<br \/>\nUsing the win to finish atop the Group A standings, the Canadians end round robin play two points up on Team USA and four ahead of Slovakia.<br \/>\nTaking on Switzerland in quarterfinal action on Tuesday following press time, Formenton said he understands the pressure to return to gold after a silver medal last year.<br \/>\n\u201cThere\u2019s always going to be a little bit of pressure, but you want to put that in the back of your mind and just play your game.\u201d<br \/>\nThe tournament wraps up with the medal rounds on Friday. <\/p>\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" 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point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-54d","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 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