2015-16 National Junior Team

CANADA FALLS TO RUSSIA IN SHOOTOUT AT JUNIOR SHOWCASE

ALLIE MOORE

CALGARY, Alta. – Canada fell to Russia 3-2 in a hard-fought shootout Wednesday night in the penultimate game of Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp.

John Quenneville (Edmonton, Alta./Brandon, WHL), Spencer Watson (London, Ont./Kingston, OHL) and Rourke Chartier (Saskatoon, Sask./Kelowna, WHL) missed their shots in the shootout, and Samuel Montembeault (Becancour, Que./Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL) turned away Artur Lauta and Egor Korshkov before Marat Khayrullin snuck his shot past the Canadian netminder.

“Any time you lose to them, it’s tough,” Canadian defenceman Roland McKeown said. “I thought we played a hard-fought game, it’s unfortunate we couldn’t get a few more chances to go our way.”

The first period started with several chances for both teams, before Russia’s Alexander Mikulovich capitalized on a shot from the point to give his team a 1-0 lead just 5:06 in.

Canada quickly responded just 1:48 later, with Watson taking advantage of crisp passing from Josh Ho-Sang (Thornhill, Ont./Niagara, OHL) and Haydn Fleury (Carlyle, Sask./Red Deer, WHL) to tie the game.

With 5:23 to go in the opening period, Alexander Protapovich squeezed a shot past Montembeault to give Russia a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

Russia got into penalty trouble in the second period, racking up 22 minutes in the box. Canada was able to capitalize on one of these power plays, with Travis Dermott (Newmarket, Ont./Erie, OHL) scoring off a shot in the slot, courtesy of another assist from Ho-Sang.

Russian goaltender Alexander Georgiev stopped several dangerous Canadian attempts in the final 20 minutes, including breakaway attempts by Jake DeBrusk (Edmonton, Alta./Swift Current, WHL) and Watson that had the crowd on the edge of its seats.

After a scoreless third period, the teams headed into a four-on-four overtime period. Montembeault came up with a huge save midway through the extra period, when Russia’s Andrey Svetlakov came tearing down the wing on a breakaway.

Travis Konecny (Clachan, Ont./Ottawa, OHL) got a chance of his own with less than a minute left, but it was blocked by a Russian defender.

The final shot tally was 25-20 in favour of Canada.

The Canadians face the Czech Republic on Thursday night (5 p.m. MT) in their final World Junior Showcase game.