It didn’t take long for Canada’s National Junior Team hopefuls to get in some game action. Monday night, all thirty-two players vying for the twenty-two spots on Team Canada faced off in the first intrasquad (Red vs. White) game.

The first twenty minutes provided entertaining hard-checking action for nearly 300 fans. Both goaltenders came through early when called upon. Team White’s Réjean Beauchemin (Winnipeg, MB) recovered from a bad bounce off the glass into the slot, and deflected a Jeff Carter (London, ON) shot over the net early on. Team Red’s Devan Dubnyk (Calgary, AB) matched him moments later, kicking aside a one-timer from Nigel Dawes (Winnipeg, MB).

Dubnyk had no answer at 14:42 of the first frame however, as Team White’s Sidney Crosby (Cole Harbour, NS) scored on a spectacular effort, cutting past a defenceman and showing extreme patience prior to putting a backhand top shelf over Dubnyk’s shoulder. Team White held on to the 1-0 lead through the seven minute mark of the second, when both goaltenders gave way to their replacements. Beauchemin finished with 9 saves on 9 shots, while Dubnyk managed to stop 8 of 9 shots.

Team White’s Kevin Nastiuk (Edmonton, AB) took over for Beauchemin, but Team Red didn’t greet him warmly. Stephen Dixon (Halifax, NS) welcomed Nastiuk with a perfect backhand over his shoulder. Meanwhile, at the other end, Jeff Glass (Cochrane, AB) showed tremendous poise in his first true Program of Excellence game, making a number of great saves.

Team Red’s Jeff Carter made up for his near call in the first with a coast-to-coast goal at 7:47 of the third, and Team Red had its first lead, 2-1. Jeremy Colliton (Blackie, AB) added an insurance goal into an empty net, to give Team Red the 3-1 victory over Team White. Glass pushed aside all 12 shots that he faced. Nastiuk allowed two goals on nine shots.

Team Canada faces the University of Manitoba Bisons on Tuesday, December 14th.