CANADIAN U18 WOMEN TOP HOST COUNTRY HUNGARY 4-1 IN PRE-WORLDS ACTION

BUDAPEST, Hungary  – Canada's National Women's Under-18 Team polished another rough start into a sparkling finish Friday afternoon, with a 4-1 win over the Hungary Selects in a final exhibition game before the puck drops on the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship.

Playing against a host team comprised of under-18 and senior female Hungarian players, the red and white weren't able to crack the scoreboard in the first period, and found themselves with a 1-0 deficit early in the second, with Zsofia Jokai Szilagyi finding the back of the net at 1:22 in the period, perhaps catching the Canadians a bit off guard. But after some early game scrambling that included killing of a penalty that cost them some solid shots off Hungary's sticks, Canada quickly pulled itself together and tied it up at 8:29 in the middle frame, on a goal from Sarah Potomak (Aldergrove, B.C./Pursuit of Excellence, Midget AAA).

Breanne Wilson-Bennett notched what would become the game-winner at 16:41 in the second to make it 2-1, and from then on out Canada owned the game. Victoria Bach (Milton, Ont./Mississauga, PWHL) scored on a five-on-three power play in the third, while Eve-Audrey Picard (Longueuil, Que./St-Laurent, CEGEP) added another before the final buzzer sounded, to cap it off at 4-1 for Canada over Hungary.

Canada's blue line didn't allow many shots to reach Shea Tiley (Shallow Lake, Ont./Waterloo, PWHL), but the Canadian netminder made some pivotal saves to hold off Hungary's power play, and give her team the chance to stage an impressive comeback in its second of two pre-competition games in the past week.

Canada's National Women's Under-18 Team takes on Japan in its first preliminary game at worlds Sunday, March 23, with the puck dropping at 6 p.m. local time/1 p.m. ET. Follow all the action from Budapest live at www.twitter.com/hc_women.

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