TURIN, Italy - Canada's National Sledge Team is taking home the gold after defeating Italy 7-1 in Saturday's gold-medal game at the International Ice Sledge Hockey Tournament in Turin, Italy.
On Saturday morning, a hat-trick from Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.) led the Canadians. McGregor opened scoring just over five minutes into the first and added another at 1:51 in the second to give Canada an early 2-0 lead. Greg Westlake (Oakville, Ont.) followed at 5:25 and added his second three minutes later before Bryan Sholomicki (Winnipeg, Man.) converted on a feed from Rob Armstrong (Mississauga, Ont.) to put Canada ahead 5-0 to close out the frame.
McGregor added his third 3:37 into the final frame, before Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.) poured in the squad's seventh and final goal with just under three minutes remaining in the game. Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) and Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) shared time between the pipes in Canada's victory.
"I like the way that we came together as a team throughout the week. It was a lot of fun to see some players score their first goals, and for our team to get the taste of winning again," said Westlake, Team Canada's captain. "We are looking forward to competing next at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Bridgewater."
Canada finished a perfect 5-0 in the tournament, outscoring its opposition 38-2. Complete game stats from Saturday's gold medal game can be found here.
TEAM CANADA RETURN FLIGHT ITINERARY INFORMATION - SUNDAY, DEC. 13, 2015
Toronto, Ont. | AC847 | 3:05 p.m.
Rob Armstrong, Brad Bowden, Billy Bridges, Dominic Cozzolino, Adam Dixon, Tyler McGregor, Bryan Sholomicki, Kevin Sorley, Greg Westlake
Ottawa, Ont. | AC462 | 7:16 p.m.
Ben Delaney, Marc Dorion, Tyrone Henry
Montreal, Que. | AC834 | 7:20 p.m.
Kieran Block, Mathieu Trudeau
Windsor, Ont. | AC8871 | 7:38 p.m.
Corbin Watson
Edmonton, Alta. | AC157 | 8:49 p.m.
Steve Arsenault
Quebec City, Que. | AC8730 | 9:23 p.m.
Dominic Larocque
Prince George, B.C. | AC8213 | 12:10 a.m. (Monday)
James Gemmell
Medicine Hat, Alta. | AC7235 | 12:50 a.m. (Monday)
Derek Whitson
Canada takes to the ice next at the upcoming 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Bridgewater, N.S., against Russia at 5 p.m. AT on Sunday, Jan. 17. The Canadians also play Korea at 7 p.m. AT on Monday, Jan. 18, and the United States at 7 p.m. AT on Wednesday, Jan. 20 in preliminary-round action.
Ticket packages are now available for $50, providing admission to the six preliminary-round games, as well as both semifinals, and the bronze-medal and the gold-medal games. Please visit www.hockeycanada.ca/tickets or CLICK HERE for ticket information, including how to purchase.
For more information on Canada's National Sledge Team and the 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca and www.hockeycanada.ca/wshc, or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/hcsledge, www.twitter.com/hc_sledge, www.facebook.com/worldsledge and www.twitter.com/hc_wshc.