Vancouver Giant Brendan Gallagher celebrates a goal for Canada. (photo courtesy of hockeycanada.ca)

A huge hit by Brett Connolly on the opening shift got it started Thursday as Canada beat Denmark 10-2 to remain undefeated at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

"Brett Connolly's play on the first shift was very important for us. He was physical and really set the tone for the rest of the period. I thought we had a real good first period," said Head Coach Don Hay following the win at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

"It's a hard game to play in, at times, when you're expected control the game. But I thought we played well."

Moose Jaw Warriors forward Quinton Howden got his first goal of the tournament, opening the scoring for Canada at 2:34 of the first period. He would finish with three points.

Connolly would add a shorthanded goal a few minutes later to make it 2-0. Then Brandon's Mark Stone picked up his fifth of the tournament and Ryan Strome scored his third to give Canada a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

As expected, it was more Canada in the second frame with Scott Harrington, Mark Stone and Freddie Hamilton putting the puck in the net.

Denmark, at least,  got on the board to start the third period. Nicolai Meyer and Emil Kristensen both scored for the Danes within the first eight minutes.

Unfortunately for Denmark, the Canadians weren't finished. Brandon Gromley picked up a pair and Brenden Gallagher scored a shorthanded goal late to put the Canadians into double digits.

Goalie Mark Vistenin made 22 saves for his second win of the tournament while Canada fired 41 shots on Denmark's Sebastian Feuk.  

Despite the big win, much of the talk following the game centred around the eight minor penalties Canada took, giving the Danes far too many opportunities.  

Howden says that's something they'll have to correct going forward, "We were taking a lot, and obviously you don't want to be taking that may penalties, but to be able to kill them off and build some momentum from that is big for us."

Next up for Canada is a date with the U.S. New Year's Eve. Remember you can catch all the action live on Country 100 starting with the pre-game show at 6:30pm.

Canada v. Denmark Highlights

Other World Junior action... Russia destroyed Latvia 14-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov came within one point of Sweden's Peter Forsberg's record for points in a single game with three goals and nine points. Russia leads Pool A with a 3-0 record.