Luke Adam scored his third goal of the U20 World Junior Championships on Tuesday as Canada (3-0) cruised past Slovakia, 8-2. Adam's unassisted wraparound effort came at 5:08 of the second period to put Canada ahead 4-0. The Canadians will face off against unbeaten Team USA on Thursday.
Adam, 19, previously had scored a pair of goals and an assist in Canada's 16-0 tourney opening thrashing of Latvia. In addition to his four points, the 6'2 pivot has accumulated 11 shots on goal, a 15-9 record at the dot, and a +4 rating through the first three games of the preliminary round.
Chosen 44th overall by the Sabres in 2008, Adam is seeing his first international action in a Canadian sweater since appearing for Canada-Atlantic in the 2006 World U17 Challenge. Known more as an offensive commodity in the QMJHL, the future Sabre is executing in a checking/4th line capacity with linemates Stefan Della-Rovere (Barrie - OHL) and Jordan Caron (Rimouski - QMJHL). He's coming back deeper on the backcheck and has progressively become more aggressive physically all the while being big on the puck and a presence in the goal mouth much like he is when with Cape Breton. In typical Adam fashion, his first goal of the tournament came when he pounced on a rebound in the high slot.
Adam's 25 goals and 52 points made him the Q's top point-getter at the time of his departure for Canada's selection camp. Last season, Tyler Myers returned from his excellent World Junior performance to turn in one of the most dominant second halves in recent CHL memory.
Canada and Team USA will drop the puck Thursday night at 8PM on NHL Network.
