Canada headed to gold medal showdown with Sweden
By Aaron Bell
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Jordan Eberle is developing a reputation as a game-breaker.
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The Regina Pats sniper scored a pair of important goals for Canada’s quest for an Under-18 gold medal last year and then on Saturday, he scored two goals, including the game-tying marker with five seconds left in regulation, to help Canada to a thrilling 6-5 shootout win over Russia in the semi-finals at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa.
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Eberle also added a shootout goal that gave Canada a berth in the gold medal game on Monday and a chance to tie their own record of five straight World Junior gold medals.
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“That was a pretty big one for me,” Eberle said after the game. “We had two minutes left to tie the game and we knew what we had to do. We didn’t ever give up and I think that’s the biggest thing for Team Canada. It seemed like we’d score a goal and they’d come right back to steal the momentum. It just shows the Canadian heart the way we kept battling back.”
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Canada jumped out to an early lead when Brett Sonne of the Calgary Hitmen counted a little more than two minutes into the game. Patrice Cormier of the Rimouski Oceanic also scored in the first period but the Russians replied immediately after each goal.
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Eberle scored the only goal of the second period but the Russians tied the game again early in the third period. Angelo Esposito of the Montreal Juniors looked like he may have scored the game-winner when he put in a short-handed effort five minutes later but the Russians rebounded 40 seconds later to tie the game and scored the go-ahead goal with 2:20 left on the clock.
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With Canadian goaltender Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs on the bench for an extra attacker, John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals made a nice play deep in the Russian zone to get the puck across to Eberle in the slot. Eberle lifted a backhand past Russian goaltender Vadim Zhelobnyuk to tie the game and send the 19,000-plus crowd into a red and white flag waving frenzy.
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“We were lucky enough and fortunate enough to get the bounce there,” Eberle said. “I just kind of moved it to my backhand and put it into the open net.”
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Canada carried the play in the extra frame but weren’t able to score but Tavares and Eberle scored in the shootout and Tokarski turned aside both shooters he faced to seal the come-from-behind win.
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“It was a terrific game,” Canadian coach Pat Quinn said. “I was certainly proud of our guys. We got that one goal and we started to sit back. We had a game plan to play against the Russians but we started to fall back off that and we ended up giving up the goal that tied the game and then the go-ahead goal. They challenged us.”
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Canada and Sweden will meet in a rematch of the gold medal game from one year ago. The medal games will be played on Monday starting with the bronze medal game between Slovakia and Russia (3:30 Eastern on TSN and RDS) followed by the gold medal matchup (7:00 p.m. Eastern on TSN and RDS).
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World Junior Notebook – Stay -at-home defender Colten Teubert of the Regina Pats is the only Canadian skater that hasn’t registered a point in the tournament…the Canadian team has a mix of players from across the country but defenceman Keith Aulie of the Brandon Wheat Kings comes from the smallest town among this year’s group. Aulie hails from Rouleau, SK, which has a population of 400. Corey Sarich, who played for Canada 10 years ago, came from the smallest two ever to produce a Canadian Junior Team member. Sarich was one of 67 residents of Bladworth, SK…no player on this year’s Canadian team has pulled on a red and white Team Canada jersey more often than Zach Boychuk. The Lethbridge Hurricanes’ star first represented Canada in the World Under-17’s for Team Pacific and then skated for his country twice in the Under-18’s, twice in the World Juniors and was a member of Canada’s team for the Super Series against Russia in 2007.