2016-17 National Men's Under-18 Team

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2017 IIHF U18 World Championship
Game #1
Preliminary
Final
April 13, 2017 9:30 am EDT
ZS Poprad
Poprad, SVK

Scoring

Teams
1st
2nd
3rd
Final
Teams
1
2
3
F
1
2
1
4
1
0
0
1

Shots on Goal

1st
2nd
3rd
Final
1
2
3
F
13
25
16
54
10
6
3
19

Statistics

PP
PIM
1 / 6
32
0 / 4
18

Game Story

CANADA COMES OUT FIRING IN WORLDS-OPENING WIN

JASON LA ROSE

POPRAD, Slovakia – MacKenzie Entwistle (Georgetown, Ont./Hamilton, OHL) led the offence with a goal and an assist, helping Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team to a 4-1 win over Latvia in the opener for both Thursday at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship.

The Canadians owned the puck for long stretches of the game; they held a 54-19 advantage in shots on goal, including 41-9 over the final 40 minutes. Despite the loss, Latvian goaltender Niklavs Rauza starred in a 50-save performance.

After a handful of early chances, Canada struck first just shy of the 12-minute mark of the first period. A turnover at the Latvian blue-line ended up on the stick of Stelio Mattheos (Winnipeg, Man./Brandon, WHL), who was awarded a penalty shot after he was pulled down with no one between him and Rauza.

Mattheos dangled his way in and went backhand to forehand before roofing a shot over the glove of the Latvian netminder from in close for the 1-0 goal.

The Europeans battled back to tie the game late in the opening frame; Rihards Paskausks buried a rebound past Canadian goaltender Ian Scott (Calgary, Alta./Prince Albert, WHL) to send the game to the intermission even at 1-1.

Canada ramped up the offence in the second period, outshooting Latvia 25-6, and took the lead for good when Entwistle went cross-crease to set up Maxime Comtois (Longueuil, Que./Victoriaville, QMJHL) for a power-play goal at 3:36.

Isaac Ratcliffe (London, Ont./Guelph, OHL) extended the advantage to two less than five minutes later, jumping on a face-off win by Nate Scharr (Waterloo, Ont./Guelph, OHL) and beating Rauza.

With the Canadians comfortably on their way to victory, Entwistle capped the scoring just past the midway mark of the third period, redirecting a wrist shot from Ty Smith (Lloydminster, Alta./Spokane, WHL).

Canada sees the ice next on Saturday, facing off against host Slovakia (1;30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT on TSN).

Play by Play

Team
Description
Time
1st Period
PENALTY
Penalty: Niks Krollis
Interference (2:00)
02:09
PENALTY
Penalty: Maxime Comtois
Hit to the Head (2:00)
05:31
PENALTY
Penalty: Maxime Comtois
10-Minute Misconduct - Misconduct (10:00)
05:31
PENALTY
Penalty: Daniels Berzins
Tripping (2:00)
11:50
GOAL
Goal: Stelio Mattheos

11:50
PENALTY
Penalty: Liam Hawel
Roughing (2:00)
14:50
PENALTY
Penalty: Stelio Mattheos
Slashing (2:00)
14:50
PENALTY
Penalty: Ralfs Vjaters
Roughing (2:00)
14:50
GOAL
Goal: Rihards Paskausks

18:08
2nd Period
PENALTY
Penalty: Ilja Zulevs
Holding (2:00)
03:27
GOAL (POWER PLAY)
Goal: Maxime Comtois

Assists: MacKenzie Entwistle, Jaret Anderson-Dolan
03:36
GOAL
Goal: Isaac Ratcliffe

Assists: Nate Schnarr
08:26
PENALTY
Penalty: Andrejs Kostjuks
Tripping (2:00)
09:17
PENALTY
Penalty: Regnars Udris
Interference (2:00)
14:11
PENALTY
Penalty: MacKenzie Entwistle
Slashing (2:00)
14:43
PENALTY
Penalty: Kyle Olson
Roughing (2:00)
16:01
PENALTY
Penalty: Martins Barkans
Roughing (2:00)
16:01
3rd Period
GOAL
Goal: MacKenzie Entwistle

Assists: Ty Smith, Ian Mitchell
10:48
PENALTY
Penalty: Emils Gegeris
Slashing (2:00)
11:35
PENALTY
Penalty: Kyle Olson
Checking from Behind (2:00)
13:30
PENALTY
Penalty: Kyle Olson
10-Minute Misconduct - Misconduct (10:00)
13:30
PENALTY
Penalty: Andrejs Kostjuks
Boarding (2:00)
15:48

Goaltenders

Name Team Mins Shots Saves GA SV%
Ian Scott CAN 60 19 18 1 0.947
Niklavs Rauza LAT 60 54 50 4 0.926

Game Leaders

Goals 1 - Assists 1 - Points 2
G 1 - A 1 - P 2
Goals 1 - Assists 0 - Points 1
G 1 - A 0 - P 1
Goals 1 - Assists 0 - Points 1
G 1 - A 0 - P 1
Goals 1 - Assists 0 - Points 1
G 1 - A 0 - P 1

Previous Games

3 - 7 L v SwedenSWE
Apr 20, 2017
1 - 3 L @ BelarusBLR
Apr 23, 2017
3 - 6 L @ FinlandFIN
Apr 18, 2017
3 - 2 W v BelarusBLR
Apr 21, 2017
7 - 3 W v SwitzerlandSUI
Apr 17, 2017
0 - 2 L @ BelarusBLR
Apr 20, 2017
Videos
Photos
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2024 NJT Selection Camp: Canada 2, U SPORTS 1
Brayden Yager's two-point performance led Canada past the U SPORTS all-stars.
2024 Para Cup: Day 6 (Friday, December 13)
Canada and the U.S. scored semifinal successes in Charlottetown.
2024 NJT Selection Camp: Canada 5, U SPORTS 2
Carson Rehkopf netted a hat trick in Canada’s first game against the U SPORTS all-stars.
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