- Trent Crane (Morden, Man./Summerside, MHL), Joseph Ianniello (Vaughan, Ont./Navan, CCHL) and Sawyer Prokopetz (Wainfleet, Ont./Markham, OJHL) scored for Canada East.
- Rauls Ozollapa provided the scoring for Latvia.
- Ethan Morrow (Kingston, Ont./Wellington, OJHL) made 24 saves for the win.
Canada West 5, United States 3
- Captain Liam Watkins (Okotoks, Alta./Spruce Grove, AJHL) led the way with a pair of goals for Canada West.
- Zac Somers (Melfort, SJHL) scored the game winning goal in the victory
- Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alta./Brooks, AJHL) and Hudson Malinoski (Saskatoon, Sask./Brooks, AJHL) had a goal and an assist apiece.
- Sam Harris, Gavin Lindberg and Cole Knuble found the back of the net for the United States.
- Erick Roest (Lethbridge, Alta./Sherwood Park, AJHL) made 34 saves for the win.
Next games – Monday, December 12:
- Latvia vs. Sweden – 2 p.m. ET
- Canada East vs. Canada West – 7 p.m. ET
Quotes:
“The first 40 minutes were really tight. We showed a lot of heart today. Our guys have come together very well over the past couple of days; I have not seen a group of players this close together so quickly. It is fun to see a bunch of players with one goal come together. We are excited to keep this tournament going.”
- Canada East assistant coach Derek Smith (Belleville, Ont./Wellington, OJHL) on coming together as a team.
“It was a tough challenge at the start. We came back in the third with our best period of the game to come out with the win. We need to stay positive and get better every day; come out for every game playing hard, playing for the people we love and try to win gold.”
- Crane on his team’s resilience.
“What a great hockey game for the fans to witness and for both teams to take part in. There were ups and downs, power plays and penalty kills, and plenty of emotion. We kept channelled and focused on the job ahead. There is lots of room for growth for us. We need to start getting prepared for tomorrow.”
- Canada West head coach Justin Falk (Snowflake, Man./Winkler, MJHL) on the energizing start to the tournament.
“We came out physical, fast and were in their ear the whole night. Discipline is going to be huge; every team has got a good power play, so you never want to be down a man. We have to get on the right side of the pucks, play body-to-body and not reach in. We are better five-on-five than down a man.”
- Watkins on staying disciplined.
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada will broadcast the bronze medal and gold medal games from the Cornwall Civic Complex; please check local listings for details. All preliminary-round games and semifinals are livestreamed for purchase at HockeyCanada.ca.
