2017-18 National Para Hockey Team

WHITE EDGES RED IN WILD ONE AT SLEDGE SELECTION CAMP

JASON LA ROSE

CALGARY, Alta. – Ben Delaney (Ottawa, Ont.) scored a pair of goals, both on special teams, and White hung on for a 3-2 win over Red on Wednesday night in the first of two intrasquad games at Canada’s National Sledge Team selection camp.

The game was delayed for close to an hour when a pane of glass shattered less than four minutes into the first period. When the action resumed, the teams played a pair of 20-minute halves.

Goaltending dominated the opening 20 minutes, with White netminder Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) turning aside all 11 shots he faced, while Red counterpart Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) made five saves of his own to keep the game scoreless.

Adam Kingsmill (Smithers, B.C.) and Kris Dutkiewicz (Kitchener, Ont.) replaced Larocque and Watson, respectively, to open the second 20 minutes, and both teams quickly picked up the offence.

Delaney was the recipient of a fortuitous bounce to open the scoring; a shot from Liam Hickey (St. John’s, N.L.) beat Kingsmill and hit the post before ricocheting off Delaney and in for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead.

He doubled the advantage with White shorthanded close to six minutes later, beating Kingsmill to the post on a wraparound.

Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.) finally broke through for Red with six minutes remaining in the second half, tucking a power-play goal past Dutkiewicz, but Antoine Lehoux (Thetford Mines, Que.) snuck a shot under Kingsmill for another man-advantage marker just over three minutes later to restore the two-goal lead.

Dominic Cozzolino (Mississauga, Ont.) added one more for Red – again on the power play – with 23.1 seconds to go, but it would get no closer.

All five goals in the game were scored on special teams; White finished 2-for-2 with the power play, and added the shorthanded marker from Delaney, while Red was 2-for-4 while playing a man up.

Both teams see the ice next against Korea; Red takes on the Paralympic hosts Thursday (2:45 p.m. MT) before White closes the international portion of camp Friday (1:45 p.m. MT). The two Canadian sides meet again in the camp finale on Saturday (11:15 a.m. MT).