WESTLAKE, BOWDEN COMBINE FOR 12 POINTS AS CANADA ADVANCES TO FINAL

CALGARY, Alta. – Greg Westlake (Oakville, Ont.) and Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.) tied a tournament record with six points apiece as Canada advanced to the gold medal game at the 2011 World Sledge Hockey Challenge with a 9-2 semifinal win over Japan on Thursday night.

Westlake and Bowden both finished with three goals and three assists – each assisting on all of the other’s goals – as they joined Norway’s Rolf Pedersen and Canada’s Adam Dixon (Midland, Ont.) as only players to record a half-dozen points in a single WSHC game.

Westlake finished off his hat trick late in the second period before setting up Bowden for his second and third goals just 14 seconds apart early in the third.

Kevin Rempel (Vineland, Ont.) added a pair of goals while Kieran Block (Edmonton, Alta.) scored once for Canada, which will meet the United States in Saturday’s gold medal game (4 p.m. MT, TSN2).

Daisuke Uehara and Tomohiko Maruo scored the goals for Japan, which briefly pulled to within a goal at 2-1 before Westlake restored the two-goal advantage for good 40 seconds later.

Japan will face Norway in Saturday’s bronze medal game (noon MT), looking for its first medal in four appearances at the tournament – it lost to the United States in the third-place game in 2008 and last April, and to Norway in 2009.

Penalties:
   18:07 CAN 29 Graeme Murray (Holding)

Penalties:
   04:31 CAN 7 Marc Dorion (Slashing)
   10:12 CAN 27 Brad Bowden (Holding)
   11:37 JPN 13 Mamoru Yoshikawa (Holding)

Penalties:
   None