Canada Comes Out Hot

You may not be aware, but there is a talented group of Canadians over in Ostrava, Czech Republic right now who are making Canada proud. The IPC World Championship started on June 19, and the Canadian lads came out of the gate fired up and ready to take on the world as they look to claim gold at this year's tournament. Always one of the favorites, there's no doubt that Canada has had time during this pandemic to work on individual skills, but getting together as a team and working as a unit in sledge hockey is another thing entirely, and that's where the continuity of this lineup will help as Canada moves through the preliminary stage!

Canada opened the tournament with arguably their toughest test as they met archrivals in Team USA in the opening game of their schedule. These two teams always have games where the physicality is high and the chances for scoring are low, so it as expected that we'd see a low score when the final buzzer sounded.

After a clean sheet in the first period where the US outshot Canada 4-1, the Canadians used the power-play to to make the Americans pay for some undisciplined play, striking twice in the frame. James Dunn scored at 2:03 and Tyler MacGregor scored at 9:35 to give Canada a two-goal cushion heading into the third period as the Americans needed a rally to get back in the game despite outshooting Canada 8-7 through 40 minutes of play.

Brody Roybal would cut the deficit in half just 57 seconds into the third period, but the Canadians would not surrender a second goal as Dominic Larocque held the fort in stopping seven of eight shots in the period to help Canada to the 2-1 win over Team USA! Starting the tournament off with a big win like that has to boost the team, and head coach Ken Babey liked what he saw from his squad.

"I thought it was a good game for our team considering we have not played in a long time," Babey said in regards to the 491-day gap between games. "We played well defensively and we were able to close [the United States] out for most of the evening. Our guys battled hard and blocked shots to preserve the win, and now we look forward to playing South Korea tomorrow."

Occasionally, we see emotional letdowns when teams come off a big win against a rival followed by a game against a solid, but less talented, opponent. Would we see that from Canada on Sunday morning against the South Koreans who seen great progress made with their program and who came into this game 1-0 after a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday?

Canada didn't wait long to take control of this game. Liam Hickey put the red-and-white in front just 21 seconds into the game, and Tyler MacGregor added his second goal of the tournament at 2:56 as Canada took the early 2-0 lead. MacGregor added a second goal in the frame on the power-play at 10:44, and Canada went to the first intermission fully in control with a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 9-1 advantage in shots.

Canada's second period effort was a lot like their first in terms of the number of goals scored. Corbyn Smith at 2:05 made it a 4-0 game, and Liam Hickey added his second of the game at 5:39 to make it a 5-0 lead for the Canadians. With the score firmly in Canada's favour, the Canadians swapped goalies as Dominic Larocque went to the bench and Adam Kingsmill came out to guard the twine at 7:56, and he'd get a little more insurance off the stick of Auren Halbert at 10:03 as Canada took the 6-0 lead into the room through two periods of play.

Auren Halbert and Tyler MacGregor rounded out the scoring in the third period as Canada cruised to the 8-0 victory while holding the Koreans to just three shots on net. Needless to say, there was no letdown emotionally shown by the Canadians in this game.

"We had different players stepping up and had some guys come into the lineup that really helped us out," coach Ken Babey said after the game. "We played a solid team game and we created a lot of offensive opportunities that we were able to capitalize on."

Canada has the day off on Monday before resuming action against the host Czech Republic on Tuesday. As it stands, the Czechs are 0-2 in the tournament and have yet to score a goal. With a day of rest, Canada looks to be a rather formidable foe for the Czechs, so we'll have to see how that game plays out. All of the action and results can be found on the International Paralympic Committee website, so make sure you follow along as Canada goes for gold in Ostrava!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!