2017-18 National Para Hockey Team

HICKEY HELPS WHITE TO WIN IN SLEDGE OPENER

JASON LA ROSE

CALGARY, Alta. – Liam Hickey (St. John’s, N.L.) scored both goals, leading White to a 2-0 win over Korea in its opening game Tuesday at Canada’s National Sledge Team selection camp.

Billy Bridges (Summerside, P.E.I.) set up both goals for the Canadian side, while Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) needed to make just six saves to record the shutout.

White didn’t waste any time getting the scoring going; just 30 seconds into its first power play – and less than four minutes into the opening period – Hickey corralled a loose puck at the side of the net and snapped a left-handed shot past Korean goaltender Hyuk Jun Choi.

The Canadians dominated puck possession in the first period, going long stretches with control, but were actually outshot in the opening 15 minutes, 3-2.

Korea had its best chance to score on a 46-second five-on-three advantage midway through the second period, but White kept them without a goal, and to just two shots in the middle frame.

Hickey doubled the Canadian lead with just eight seconds left in the period, barely getting a piece of a centering pass from Bridges to send White to the second intermission up by a pair.

Choi kept the Koreans close in the third period, making his two best saves less than a minute apart; first, he flashed the glove to deny the sharp-shooting Bridges, before diving across the crease to rob Ben Delaney (Ottawa, Ont.).

But the Paralympic hosts could manage just a single shot on goal in the final stanza as Watson and the Canadian defence locked down the victory.

White is back on the ice Wednesday for the first of two intrasquad games against Red (4:45 p.m. MT), while the Koreans will next take on Red on Thursday (2:45 p.m. MT).