2016-17 National Sledge Team

DIXON DOES IT ALL, LEADS CANADA PAST ITALY AT SLEDGE TOURNEY

JASON LA ROSE

TURIN, Italy – Adam Dixon (Midland, Ont.) provided all the offence, scoring a natural hat trick in the first 17 minutes to send Canada’s National Sledge Team past Italy 3-0 on Tuesday at the 2017 International Para Hockey Tournament.

The win keeps Canada perfect ahead of a potential first-place showdown with Norway on Wednesday (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT) in the preliminary-round finale.

Dixon wasted no time opening the scoring, jumping in from the blue-line and driving off the right wing before slipping a shot past Italian goaltender Santino Stillitano on the short-side for an unassisted goal just 5:17 after the puck dropped.

The defenceman made it 2-0 at 11:02, taking a pass in the slot from Ben Delaney (Ottawa, Ont.) and wiring a quick shot low to the glove side of Stillitano to send the Canadians to the dressing room up by a pair.

Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.) did the hard work on the hat trick goal with Canada enjoying a two-man advantage just 1:29 into the second period, stretching to push a pass to Dixon, who quickly whipped a left-handed shot up and over Stillitano to finish the scoring.

The final margin of victory would have been much larger if not for the play of Stillitano, who finished with 25 saves, many of them point-blank stops. He turned away McGregor three times from in close in the second period alone, and the Canadian also hit the crossbar in the middle frame.

Canada finished with a 28-5 advantage in shots on goal, holding the hosts without a shot in the third period.

Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) earned the shutout in his first start of the tournament.