World Junior A Challenge roundup: Canada East, West sweep opening day
Both Canadian teams started off strong with victories on the opening day of World Junior A Challenge action in Cornwall:
Canada East wins opener over Latvia
A strong third-period effort helped lift Canada East to a 3-1 victory over Latvia to open up play in Cornwall.
The Latvians showed they weren’t one to mess with, scoring the first goal of the game despite a slow start. At 23:05, Rauls Ozollapa took a feed from the slot and fired a simple wrist shot past Ethan Morrow, giving his team a 1-0 lead that would last until the start of the final stanza.
A pair of second-period goals would give Canada a 2-1 advantage in the third. Just over a minute into the first, Trent Crane finished a passing play between himself, Andy Reist and Sid McNeill and ended Aksels Ozols’ shutout after 21 shots.
Then, in the middle of a four-minute power play, defenseman Joseph Ianniello used traffic in front and ripped the puck pats Ozols for the go-ahead goal. Latvia hoped for a late third period goal, but an empty netter by Sawyer Prokopetz resulted in Canada taking a 3-1 victory.
Canada West wins back-and-forth affair over USA
Canada West made sure to cap a perfect day for the country with a 5-3 victory over the United States in the evening game.
Liam Watkins had an explosive two-goal first period, scoring first on the power-play at 6:36 and against six minutes later. But that was broken up by Sam Harris’ power-play goal for USA, with Ryan St. Louis finding Harris in free air before he sent it past Erick Roest. Gavin Lindberg scored with under three minutes to go in the first to send the game into the first break tied at two.
A pair of goals in the final 30 seconds of the second made things extra dramatic. First, with 30 seconds left, Cole Knuble scored while shorthanded for the 3-2 goal. With one second remaining, Aiden Fink then tired it up at three apiece, setting things up a wild third period.
USA had some opportunities in the third, but Canada capitalized where it matters most. Zac Somers gave Canada it’s third lead of the game after scoring with just under nine minutes to go to send the Americans scrambling. They had a couple close chances, but Hudson Malinoski’s empty-netter in the final minute sealed the deal to make it a perfect opening day for the two Canadian teams.
Three Stars
- Liam Watkins, F (Canada West): His two goals in the first helped set the tempo for the rest of the game.
- Ryan St. Louis, F (USA): It wasn’t the result he wanted, but he St. Louis was the prime setup man for the Americans.
- Aksels Ozols, G (Latvia): If it wasn’t for Ozols’ sharp play in the first 40 minutes, Latvia would have been in trouble.