Game Report 323

IPC World Para Hockey Championship

PLAYED AT: Gangneung Hockey Centre
Date: Apr 13, 2017
GAME NOTES: EXPERIENCE AND YOUTH HELP CANADA TO SLEDGE WORLDS WIN JASON LA ROSE GANGNEUNG, South Korea – Billy Bridges (Summerside, P.E.I.) and Liam Hickey (St. John’s, N.L.) finished with two goals and two assists apiece, leading Canada’s National Sledge Team to its second win in as many days at the 2017 IPC World Para Hockey Championship, 7-0 over Italy on Thursday. The Canadians have been absolutely dominant in their first two games; they have outscored Norway and Italy by a combined 16-0, and allowed only five shots on goal total. Bridges, the fourth-oldest player on the Canadian roster, and Hickey, the second-youngest, did the damage against the Italians; the Atlantic Canada natives seemingly played keep-away for most of the game, and combined for two of the prettiest goals of the tournament. Greg Westlake (Oakville, Ont.) added two goals for Canada, his second-straight multi-goal performance, and Corbyn Smith (Monkton, Ont.) had one. Adam Dixon (Midland, Ont.) chipped in with three assists. Just as they did in their opening win over Norway, the Canadians took control with a dominant first period. Bridges got the festivities started just past the two-minute mark, driving to the net and beating Italian goaltender Santino Stillitano to the far side, and Westlake found room on the short-side to double the lead at 4:41. Smith cleaned up the rebound of a Westlake shot to make it a 3-0 game at 12:50, and Bridges toe-dragged around a defender before feeding Hickey for the 4-0 goal with 36 seconds left in the opening frame. Canada owned the puck in the first 15 minutes, outshooting Italy 11-0. Gabriele Araudo replaced Stillitano to start the second period, and the move seemed to spark the Italian defence; Canada managed just four shots in a scoreless stanza, although the Europeans still couldn’t manage one. Canadian goaltender Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) finally faced his first shot two minutes into the third period. He needed to make just two saves in all to record his 25th career shutout, tying Paul Rosen for the most in Team Canada history. Bridges finally got a puck past Arauto 1:44 into the final period, crashing the net to bury a feed from Hickey, and Hickey finished off a picture-perfect give-and-go with Bridges to push the lead to 6-0 at 4:35. Westlake converted the Canadian touchdown with less than seven minutes left, going to the left hand to wire a shot past Arauto. The Canadians are back to action Friday (2 a.m. ET/11 p.m. PT) at the Gangneung Hockey Centre, facing off against Sweden in the third of six preliminary-round games.

Visiting Team: Italy

Home Team: Canada

ITALY LINEUP
Pos	No.	Name
G	1	Stillitano, Santino
G	15	Araudo, Gabriele
	3	Rosa, Gianluigi
	5	Planker, Florian
	6	Cavaliere, Gianluca
	7	Winkler, Werner
	8	Radice, Roberto
	9	Kalegaris, Sandro
	11	Larch, Nils
	14	Balossetti, Bruno
	18	Macri, Andrea
	33	Kafmann, Stephan
	62	Depaoli, Christoph
	68	Corvino, Valerio
	73	Leperdi, Gregory Brian Alexis

ITALY PENALTIES
Per.	No.	Min	Offence	Off	PP	PS	Start	On
1st	5	2:00	Interference	8:40	1		8:40	10:40
2nd	18	2:00	Roughing	6:05			6:05	8:05
3rd	14	2:00	Hooking	11:37	1		11:37	13:37

CANADA LINEUP
Pos	No.	Name
G	30	Watson, Corbin
G	31	Larocque, Dominic
	3	Cozzolino, Dominic
	5	Henry, Tyrone
	6	Culmone, Anthony
	8	McGregor, Tyler
	9	Smith, Corbyn
	10	Delaney, Ben
	11	Dixon, Adam
	12	Westlake, Greg
	14	Arsenault, Steve
	15	Sorley, Kevin
	18	Bridges, Billy
	23	Hickey, Liam
	27	Bowden, Brad

CANADA PENALTIES
Per.	No.	Min	Offence	Off	PP	PS	Start	On
2nd	11	2:00	Roughing	6:05			6:05	8:05
3rd	12	2:00	Slashing	8:03	1		8:03	10:03
3rd	3	2:00	Interference	14:59	1		14:59	15:00

ITALY Goals

ITALY PLAYERS (plus)

CANADA PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

CANADA Goals

CANADA PLAYERS (plus)

ITALY PLAYERS (minus)

Per.

Time

G-As1-As2

1st