Five WHL graduates win World Cup with Team Canada
Goaltender Carey Price (Tri-City Americans) made 32 saves, backstopping Team Canada to an electrifying 2-1 victory over Team Europe to claim the 2016 World Cup of Hockey Championship at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto Thursday night.
Brad Marchand registered the short-handed winning goal during the dying moments of the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie.
The lone blemish on Price’s ledger in the final game of the best-of-three championship came off the stick of another WHL alumni as defenceman Zdeno Chara (Prince George Cougars) scored the lone marker for Team Europe.
Price was one of five Western Hockey League graduates representing Team Canada at the best-on-best tournament, joining goaltender Braden Holtby (Saskatoon Blades), defencemen Jay Bouwmeester (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Shea Weber (Kelowna Rockets) as well as forward Ryan Getzlaf (Calgary Hitmen).
Captain Sidney Crosby was named Tournament MVP, while Price led the tournament with five victories as Team Canada went undefeated (6-0-0) from start to finish. The former Americans standout star rounded out the tourney with a 1.40 goals-against average (GAA), .957 save percentage (SP) with one shutout, allowing only seven goals on 163 shots.
In five games, Getzlaf registered three assists. Bouwmeester skated in all six games, collecting one helper, while Weber saw action in five games.
The five WHL alumni were among 22 Canadian Hockey League graduates representing Team Canada.
Canada defeated Russia by a 5-3 margin in semifinal action before knocking off Europe in consecutive games to claim the best-of-three championship final.
The win was Canada’s 16th straight triumph in best-on-best play, a streak dating back to the preliminary round of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
The Western Hockey League was well represented in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey Championship, with Team Europe rolling out six WHL graduates, including Chara, Luca Sbisa (Lethbridge Hurricanes/Portland Winterhawks) and forwards Leon Draisaitl (Prince Albert Raiders/Kelowna Rockets), Jannik Hansen (Portland Winterhawks), Marian Hossa (Portland Winterhawks) and Nino Niederreiter (Portland Winterhawks).
For more information on the World Cup of Hockey, please visit wch2016.com.
With files from the Canadian Hockey League
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