2001-02 National Men's Under-18 Team

April 17, 2002
Piestany, Slovakia

Piestany, Slovakia- Canada's National Under 18 Team has moved on to the final round at the 2002 IIHF World Under 18 Hockey Championship, with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Norway on Wednesday, in Piestany, Slovakia.

Most of the Canadian players had probably not had a 10am game since minor hockey, and it took a while for Mike Pelino's troops to get going as Norway surprised them in the opening minutes of the game and opened the scoring at 6:19 as Larsen Eljar beat Maxime Daigneault.

Canada finally solved Norwegian netminder Vegard Sagbakken at 9:35 as Brett O'Malley intercepted a clearing attempt and set up Sébastien Courcelles, of Rosemere, QC for Canada's first goal. And less than two minutes later, took a 2-1 lead with André Benoit carrying the puck past a Norwegian defender and feeding Ryan Keller, of Saskatoon, SK who scored into an open net. Canada had a number of chances but couldn't add to their lead. Finally, it was Norway, just after a powerplay, that evened the score at 19:36, as Marius Holtet fired a one-timer from the slot past Daigneault. 2-2 after one.

Both teams had some chances in the second but failed to score. Pierre-Marc Bouchard, in particular, had two great chances, including a breakway but Sagbakken came up with the big saves. It remained 2-2 through 40 minutes of play.

Canada made it 3-2 at 2:58 of the third period as Bouchard found the mark, with a backhander over the goaltender's shoulder. But less than a minute later, Norway answered as Lars Spets cashed in on some great forechecking to tie the score.

That set the stage for an exciting third period with both teams getting great chances. Finally, Keller got his second of the game as a turnover led to him firing a quick wrist shot between the pads of the Norwegian netminder at 18:05.

Canada is taking part in it's first ever World Under 18 Hockey Championship, and is made up of players born in 1984, presently not involved in the playoffs in either the CHL, university or Junior ?A? leagues. Canada opens the next round on Thursday, April 18th against the USA, who will win the B Pool as they win a tiebreak with Finland, having won their game in the first round.

Game Summary