BRNO, Czech Republic — The Canadian men's junior hockey team beat Switzerland 3-0 in the opening exhibition game for both squads on Thursday.

Dawson Mercer, Liam Foudy and Bowen Byram scored for Canada. Goaltenders Joel Hofer and Nico Daws combined for a 12-save shutout.

Aidan Dubas added two assists.

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"It was good to see the team play a meaningful game," Canada head coach Dale Hunter said. "Saw some good things, and some things that we can work on. It's a process and the guys are getting better every day. We’ll use the next few days to practise and continue to build on things."

Canada outshot Switzerland 16-12.

"I thought we stuck with it. The first game is never easy," Byram said. "We've got a lot of things to build on and we'll work together to get there. We want to be a puck-moving, fast team and I think we're starting to do just that as a team."

Canada plays Finland on Monday in its final exhibition contest.

The Canadians open the 2020 world junior championship in the Czech Republic on Dec. 26 against the United States.

Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals at last year's world junior in B.C. The Swiss finished fourth after losing the bronze-medal game to Russia.