WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Canada Advances To Semi-Finals

January 1, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


SASKATOON, SK -- It was just like last New Years Eve in Ottawa, a comeback victory for Canada over the United States at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Jordan Eberle, Nazem Kadri and Brandon Kozun all scored in a shootout, and Jake Allen made the one stop he needed to give Canada a 5-4 victory over the United States in the final round-robin game for both teams on Thursday night.

''Good teams find a way to win and we kept battling,'' said defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, whose shorthanded goal with 4:15 left in regulation time forced a five-minute overtime and then the shootout. ''It's unbelievable for us to have that happen again.''

Pietrangelo, Eberle and four others were on the Canadian team a year ago in the same situation that spotted the Americans a 3-0 lead and then roared back for a 7-4 win.

''Adversity's huge,'' said Eberle. ''It's what makes your team better and it's what makes hockey fun.

And it's going to help us in the long run.''

The win gave Canada (4-0) first place in Pool A and a bye to the semifinal on Sunday while the U.S. (3-1) was pushed into a quarter-final game Saturday against Finland, which finished third in Pool B.

Canada will play the winner of the Russia-Switzerland quarter-final, while Group B leader Sweden will play the winner of the game between the Americans and Toni Rajala's Finnish squad.

Canada trailed 4-2 midway through the third period when Eberle's second goal of the game brought the crowd to life.

Then, with Eberle serving a high-sticking call, Pietrangelo stole a puck in the neutral zone, skated in and blasted a shot past impressive young U.S. goalie Jack Campbell to tie the game and send the sell-out crowd of 15,171 at the Credit Union Centre into a frenzy.

A scoreless but entertaining overtime, which featured an Eberle breakaway in the dying seconds, the stage was set for the Shootout which saw five of the six shooters score goals.

Stefan Della Rovere also scored for Canada, which earned a valuable extra day of rest with the victory as it looks to win its sixth consecutive world junior title.

''Maybe people will say we didn't play well, but we did, it's just that the U.S. played unreal,'' said Canadian coach Willie Desjardins. ''We were lucky tonight.''

''It wasn't what they were doing, we were giving them the puck,''

said Canadian captain Patrice Cormier. ''We tried to make the little fancy plays and not getting it in deep, and they were attacking off our turnovers.''

In other International hockiey on Thursday, Sweden dumped Team Western 5-2 at the World Under 17 Championship in Timmins, Ontario. Team West features four Brandon Wheat King prospects including local product Austin Lewis.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 1, 2010


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