2001-02 National Men's Under-18 Team

Exhibition
April 9, 2002
Bratislava, Slovakia

Bratislava, Slovakia- Canada's National Under 18 Team battled the Slovakian National Under 19 Team to a 4-4 tie earlier today in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Canada opened the scoring at 2:40 as Dylan Stanley, of Edmonton, AB, beat Marek Roznik from in tight following great forechecking from a line of Stanley, Brett O'Malley and Ben Eager.

Slovakia evened the game at 1-1 in the middle frame, during a power play as Dominik Granak pounced on a rebound and beat Daigneault. No sooner had Slovakia tied the game, Canada rebounded as Eric Staal, of Thunder Bay, ON stole the puck at the blueline and deftly slid the puck past goaltender Josef Racco, who had replaced Roznik after a hand injury.

Late in the period, Eager, of Oshawa, ON forced a Slovak defender into a bad pass, directly onto Stanley's stick who scored his second of the game. Canada led 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Canada ran into penalty trouble early in the third, and Slovakia eventually solved goaltender Josh Harding, of Regina, SK, who had replaced Daigneault mid-way in the second period. On a powerplay, Tomas Bucic cut the lead to one goal, and less than a minute later, Tomas Jasko tied things up at 3-3.

Canada made the most of their only powerplay opportunity in the third, as Sébastien Courcelles, of Rosemere, QC, gave the visiting side another lead at 13:01.
But Slovakia tied the game for good on another powerplay at 17:38, as Stanislav Valach found the mark. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.

Canada opens the IIHF 2002 World Under 18 Hockey Championship on Thursday, April 11th against the defending champions, Russia, in Piestany, Slovakia.

Game Summary