CANADA

5-1

SLOVAKIA

Game Notes:

Patience. Canada got an early lead at 4:27 of the first period when Nic Petan scored his first of three goals.  But the first period ended with Canada holding a 1-0 lead and shots on goal at six apiece. Rather than becoming frustrated, Canada continued with the game plan and were rewarded. they outshot Slovakia 38-9 in the final 40 minutes and outscored their opponent 4-1.

Hat trick.  Winnipeg Jets prospect powered Canada with three goals in the game. Connor McDavid had three assists. When Petan scored his third midway through the third period, his father left his seat in the stands to toss a hat on the ice.

Untested. It was another easy game for Canadiens prospect Zachary Fucale in the Team Canada goal facing making just 14 saves.  Coach Benoit Groulx was not prepared to announce his starting goalie for the final. Only Eric Comrie has been tested in the Canadian goal when he faced Team USA.

Plus / Minus

▲    Nic Petan, Connor McDavid, Curtis Lazar, Shea Theodore, Darnell Nurse

▼

• CAN:  Nic Petan
• SLO:  Pavol Skalicky

• “We thought it was good for us to have that game tonight. You’ve got to know how to play in a tournament (in) that type of game. We kept our calm, we made some mistakes but I think we will learn from it.”

Nic Petan

• “It was an incredible feeling. In the moment you don’t really think about it, but years from now I’ll look back on it and think it was pretty cool. It was just one of those nights where pucks were finding me.”

Connor McDavid

• “This is something I dream of, getting this opportunity. Have this in front of us tomorrow, can’t look too far ahead. You have a great Russian team ahead of us.”

Joe Hicketts

• “That rivalry that’s been together since the ’72 Summit Series that I’ve been told about and see highlights of all the time, it’s going to be something special. It’s an honour for me to get to wear the Maple Leaf in that game.”
• “We have to understand that maybe we didn’t play as well as we wanted to today. (Against Russia) we know we’re going to have to play a complete 60 minutes of hard-hitting and fast Canadian hockey.”

Slovakia captain Martin Reway

• “We all knew it was going to be tight like this. It doesn’t look like a 5-1 finish but if you saw the game you knew it was a tight game. We didn’t help each other; one guy carried the puck and the other four guys just looked at him and waited for passes. It’s not going to work against teams like Canada or Sweden.”