NORWAY GETS WORLD SLEDGE REVENGE ON UNITED STATES IN SEMIS

LONDON, Ont. – Audun Bakke only needed 29 seconds on the clock left to score the game-winning goal thatallowed Norway to edge the United States in the first of two semifinal games Friday at the 2011 World SledgeHockey Challenge.

After a valiant effort by both teams, Bakke notched the tiebreaker and Norway prevailed over the UnitedStates, advancing them to the gold medal final Saturday afternoon at the Western Fair Sports Centre.

In what was an exciting first of end-to-end action, both teams went scoreless through much of the period.Norway was unable to capitalize on the lone powerplay of the period, when the Alexi Salamone went off forchecking from behind, in addition to receiving a 10-minute conduct midway through the first frame.

The United States found the back of the Norwegian net in the last minute of the period, when TaylorLipsett slid one past goaltender Roger Johansen, making it 1-0 for the Americans going into intermission.

Norway came out flying in the second, with Eskil Hagen scoring at about a minute and a half into theperiod. The Norwegians would score again two minutes later after an American give-away behind netminder SteveCash gave Helge BjØrnstad a chance to notch one for Norway for a 2-1 lead. Hagen would add another goalmidway through the second to make it 3-1. However, the Americans didn’t stop pressing and Nikko Landeroswas able to score a couple markers in the latter half of the period to even the score.

The back-and-forth action continued into the third, with Norway's BjØrnstad cracking the scoreboard at7:31 and Landeros securing a hat trick and tying it up for the second time in the game. With both teams atfour goals apiece late in the third, it looked as though a game would be forced into overtime for the firsttime in this tournament. But Bakke came through for his team before that could happen, scoring in the dyingseconds of the third period to secure Norway a spot in the gold medal game of this year’s World Sledge HockeyChallenge.

Norway will face off against the winner of tonight’s matchup between Canada and Japan at 2 p.m. ETSaturday, while the United States will compete in the bronze medal game at 10 a.m. ET.

Penalties:
   13:26 USA 21 Alexi Salamone (10-Minute Misconduct)
   13:26 USA 21 Alexi Salamone (Checking from Behind)

Penalties:
   13:09 NOR 85 Thomas Jacobsen (Hooking)
   15:38 NOR 3 Rolf Einar Pedersen (Unsportsmanlike Cnd.)

Penalties:
   None