2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

CANADA RED REMAINS UNBEATEN AFTER WIN OVER SWEDES

DAVID BRIEN

LAMBTON SHORES, Ont. – Logan Brown (Carleton Place, Ont./Windsor, OHL) and Jake Kryski (Kelowna, B.C./Kamloops, WHL) had a goal and an assist each as part of a three-goal outburst in the first 14 minutes, and Canada Red stayed perfect at the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge with a 4-2 win over Sweden on Monday night.

It’s the second night in a row the Canadians have come out firing; they racked up four goals in the first nine minutes of Sunday’s tournament-opening 6-0 win over Slovakia.

Adam Mascherin (Maple, Ont./Kitchener, OHL) and William Bitten (Gloucester, Ont./Plymouth, OHL) had the other goals for Canada Red, which kept pace with the United States atop Group B ahead of Tuesday night’s first-place showdown.

Jesper Bratt and Adam Thilander had the goals for Sweden, which has dropped its first two games.

Brown got the scoring started one second shy of the midway mark of the first period, taking a pass from Kryski and ripping a wrist shot over the blocker of Filip Gustavsson.

Mathieu Sévigny (Québec City, Que./Drummondville, QMJHL) fed a streaking Mascherin, who went up under the crossbar, to make it 2-0 at 11:30, and Kryski’s one-timer of a Brown pass on the power play pushed the lead to 3-0 at 14:00.

Bratt got Sweden on the board before the first period was done, going to the backhand on a breakaway after Alexander Nylander dove to poke the puck away from a Canadian defenceman.

The Canada Red lead was cut in half late in the second period; Thilander and Jacob Moverare played give-and-go on a Swedish power play, and Thilander hammered a one-timer past Evan Fitzpatrick (Lower Sackville, N.S./Sherbrooke, QMJHL) to make it 3-2 after two.

The Canadians controlled the third period, outshooting Sweden 11-3, and got some insurance with 24 seconds to go when Bitten found the empty net after a defensive zone takeaway by birthday boy Mason Shaw (Lloydminster, Alta./Medicine Hat, WHL).

Canada Red finished with a 31-18 advantage in shots on goal, and scored twice on five power play chances. The Swedes converted one of their three opportunities with the man advantage,
First place will be on the line Tuesday night at The Shores Recreation Centre when Canada Red and the U.S. meet (7 p.m. ET), while Sweden faces Slovakia in a battle of winless teams in the matinee (3 p.m. ET).