Day 4 at WU17 Recap
Thursday November 5, 2015
Dawson Creek/Fort St. John, BC – A pair of Canadian teams advanced to the semi-finals of the 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge on day four of the tournament on Thursday.
Here’s a look at all of the quarter-final action.
CANADA RED 3 — CANADA BLACK 2
Defenceman Josh Brook (Moose Jaw Warriors) lifted Canada Red to a 3-2 quarter-final victory over Canada Black, scoring the winning goal with 2:03 remaining in the third period with assists from Maxime Comtois (Victoriaville Tigres) and Antoine Morand (Acadie-Bathurst Titan).
“The bounces just didn’t go our way at the start,” said Brook,” but they started coming at the end. We knew we could still win this. It was a big momentum boost once we started scoring, and it started coming after that.”
Comtois and Morand had a pair of assists each in the victory while Joel Teasdale (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) and Jack Studnicka (Oshawa Generals) also had goals for Canada Red.
“We knew we could [come back],” added Canada Red head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We talked before the tournament that the third period was going to have to be our most important period, and our guys stuck with it and didn’t get discouraged.”
Joseph Veleno (Saint John Sea Dogs) led the way for Canada Black with a goal and an assist in the loss.
Canada Red will now face Russia in the semi-finals on Friday while Canada Black plays in the seventh-place game.
Full recap at hockeycanada.ca.
CANADA WHITE 4 — FINLAND 2
A three-goal third period pushed Canada White past Finland 4-2 in quarter-final action on Thursday.
James Hamblin (Medicine Hat Tigers) scored twice in the third, including the empty netter to seal the deal while Gabriel Vilardi (Windsor Spitfires) also had a third period marker. Owen Tippett (Mississauga Steelheads) provided the other goal for Canada White while goaltender Ian Scott (Prince Albert Raiders) made 29 saves in goal for the win.
“I thought it was our best effort so far in the tournament,” said Scott, who provided some timely saves throughout the game. “It was fun to watch from the other end. I’m happy we got it done, and now we focus on [the semifinals] tomorrow.”
Canada White will face Sweden in semi-final action on Friday after the Swedes stunned the United States with a 5-4 victory in their quarter-final action.
Full recap at hockeycanada.ca.
SWEDEN 5 — UNITED STATES 4
Goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek’s 27 saves backed a stunning 5-4 Sweden victory over the United States in quarter-final action.
Rickard Hugg, Lucas Elvenes and Karl Markstrom all tallied a goal and an assist for the Swedes who recorded their first win of the tournament, sending the Americans to the seventh-placed game on Friday.
London Knights draftee Sean Dhooghe had a pair of goals for the United States.
The loss marks the first time since 2005 that the United States won’t be a part of the semi-finals or take home a medal in the tournament.
Full recap at hockeycanada.ca.
RUSSIA 6 — CZECH REPUBLIC 1
A pair of goals from Yaroslav Alekseev and Alexey Lipanov led Russia to a 6-1 victory over the Czech Republic in quarter-final action.
Maxim Zhukov made 25 saves in goal as the Russians are one step closer to repeating as gold medalists, advancing to a semi-final matchup against Canada Red on Friday.
Full recap at hockeycanada.ca.
FRIDAY’S SEMI-FINAL SCHEDULE
Finland vs. United States – 1:30pm MT/3:30pm ET (North Peace Arena – Fort St. John, BC) – Placement Game
Canada Black vs. Czech Republic – 2:30pm MT/4:30pm ET (Encana Events Centre – Dawson Creek, BC) – Placement Game
Russia vs. Canada Red – 6:00pm MT/8:00pm ET (North Peace Arena – Fort St. John, BC) – Semi-Final Game
Sweden vs. Canada White – 7:00pm MT/9:00pm ET (Encana Events Centre – Dawson Creek, BC) – Semi-Final Game
For information on schedules, scores and how to purchase tickets, visit HockeyCanada.ca.