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Caria scores opener in rout of Slovakia - Canada advances to semis at FISU games

Thu Feb 03, 2011
Written by Michel Belanger
Photo by James Mirabelli

ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) Carleton University forward Brandon MacLean tallied five points, Western Ontarios Kevin Baker had a hat-trick and Canada scored five times on the power play as the all-star cast from Ontario University Athletics advanced to the semifinals of the Winter Universiade mens hockey tournament thanks to a convincing 9-1 quarter-final win over Slovakia, Thursday afternoon, at Cemal Gursel Arena.

IIHF game summary: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/pdfts/IHM400302/C74
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter
2011 Winter Universiade website: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/english

In Saturdays late semifinal at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET), the Canadians will face either defending champion Russia or the Czech Republic, whose quarter-final tilt gets under way at 7 p.m. local (noon ET) on Thursday.

Canada is vying for a third straight appearance in the final of the World University Games mens hockey tourney. An all-star squad from the Atlantic University Sport conference claimed the countrys third Universiade title in 2007 in Italy, while Canada West standouts captured silver in 2009 in China. Both gold-medal duels were against Russia, including a 3-1 win in 2007 and a 4-2 loss in 2009.

That was our best game of the tournament so far. One of the things we talked about before the tournament was we wanted to get better every game, said Team Canada head coach Clarke Singer. Today, we did a lot of little things right. It was a complete effort from all the players.

Were obviously looking forward to play in the semifinals. Whether we play Russia or the Czech Republic, theyre two very good teams. We cant worry too much about our opponents. We just need to focus on what we have to do as a team.

After clicking at a 24-percent pace in the preliminary round (5-for-21), the Canadian power play scored early and often against Slovakia. Canada converted five of seven opportunities with the man advantage including three in the first period to build a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.

One of the things weve really been working on is our special teams and our power play was outstanding today, said the University of Western Ontario bench boss. We still have some work to do 5-on-5 but the deeper you go in a tournament, special teams always play a crucial role.

MacLean, an assistant captain from Burlington, Ont., who led Canada in both goals (5) and points (6) in the preliminary round, scored with seven seconds remaining in the opening period during a 5-on-3 to make it 4-0, and then put the game out of reach only 37 seconds into the middle frame during a one-man advantage. He also assisted on Canadas first, second and eighth goals.

Baker, a native of Georgetown, Ont., who was second on the team in pool play with five points but had yet to find the back of the net, scored twice in a span of five minutes early in the first to make it 3-0 after 8:41. He assisted on MacLeans first goal and completed his hat-trick late in the third period for a four-point afternoon.

We got off to a great start getting a couple of quick ones and then we kind of built from that, Baker said. I hadnt scored yet in the tournament so it was nice to get that monkey off my back, in a big way I guess. It had been a while since I had a hat-trick. I have to give credit to my teammates, they gave me good looks for shots.

Lakeheads Matt Caria of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., UQTRs Francis Charland of Victoriaville, Que., McGills Maxime Langelier-Parent of Montreal and Westerns Keaton Turkiewicz of Brantford, Ont., all added singles in the win.

The Slovaks were penalized 11 seconds into the contest and Caria quickly made them pay, opening the scoring just 1:51 in. Slovakia was called for a hooking penalty on the play, and Baker made it 2-0 on the ensuing man advantage.

Baker tripled Canadas lead at the 8:41 mark.

Following MacLeans markers in the dying seconds of the first and early in the second, Charland scored with the man advantage at 14:39 of the middle period and Langelier-Parent made it 7-0 after two with an even-strength goal at 18:27.

Slovakia got on the board midway through the third only 25 seconds after a Canadian goalie change but it was much too little, much too late.

Baker and Turkiewicz rounded out the scoring in the final two minutes of play.

Canada outshot its rivals 38-16 including a 16-2 advantage in the first stanza, 13-6 in the second and 9-8 in the third.

Westerns Anthony Grieco of Brampton, Ont., was perfect on 11 shots in 49:40 of action. Windsors Jim Watt of Edmonton took over for the final 10:20 and was beaten once on five shots.

Peter Pus made 29 saves for Slovakia.

NOTES: Saturdays early semifinal at 4:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET) will see Kazakhstan face either Belarus or the United States... Kazakhstan defeated Japan 5-1 in quarter-final action, while Belarus and the USA face off on Thursday evening...

SCORING SUMMARY

Canada 9, Slovakia 1

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. CAN Matt Caria (3) (Brandon MacLean), 1:51 PP
2. CAN Kevin Baker (1) (Brandon MacLean), 3:50 PP
3. CAN Kevin Baker (2) (Jordan Smith), 8:41
4. CAN Brandon MacLean (6) (Kevin Baker, Dominic Jalbert), 19:53 PP2

PENALTIES:

Jan Babic (SVK) delay of game, 0:11;
Stefan Rusnak (SVK) hooking, 1:51;
Jordan Smith (CAN) kneeing, 11:32;
Tomas Volek (SVK) boarding, 18:12;
Richard Vojsovic (SVK) hooking, 19:09.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

5. CAN Brandon MacLean (7) (Kyle Sonnenburg), 0:37 PP
6. CAN Francis Charland (1) (Jean-Michel Rizk, Keaton Turkiewicz), 14:39 PP
7. CAN Maxime Langelier-Parent (1) (Tim Priano, Scott Aarssen), 18:27

PENALTIES:

Darius Rusnak (SVK) checking to the head, 2:57;
Darius Rusnak (SVK) 10-minute misconduct, 2:57;
Lubomir Vaskovic (SVK) slashing, 7:48;
Jordan Smith (CAN) slashing, 7:48;
Tomas Volek (SVK) checking to the head, 9:38;
Tomas Volek (SVK) 10-minute misconduct, 9:38;
Stefan Rusnak (SVK) cross checking, 13:23.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

8. SVK Richard Vojsovic (1) (Libor Kacer), 10:05
9. CAN Kevin Baker (3) (Brandon MacLean, Jean-Michel Rizk), 18:03
10. CAN Keaton Turkiewicz (2) (Thomas Kiriakou, Dominic Jalbert), 19:01

PENALTIES:

None

GOALS (by period)
CAN: 4-3-2: 9
SVK: 0-0-1: 1

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 16-13-9: 38
SVK: 2-6-8: 16

POWER PLAY:
CAN: 5-7
SVK: 0-1

GOALTENDERS
CAN Anthony Grieco (W, 2-1, 11 shots, 11 saves, 0 GA, 49:40)
CAN Jim Watt (5 shots, 4 saves, 1 GA, 10:20)
SVK Peter Pus (L, 38 shots, 29 saves, 9 GA, 60:00)

REFEREE: Kimmo Laakonen (FIN)

LINESMEN: Andreas Lunden (SWE), Neva Henri (FIN)

ATTENDANCE: 220

START: 15:00
END: 17:14
LENGTH: 2:14

TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (local time)

Thursday, Jan. 27: Canada 9, Slovenia 0
Saturday, Jan. 29: Belarus 3, Canada 2 (3-2 in shootout)
Monday, Jan. 31: Canada 3, South Korea 2
Thursday, Feb. 3 (quarter-finals): Canada 9, Slovakia 1
Saturday, Feb. 5, 16:30 (semifinal #1): Kazakhstan vs. TBD (Belarus or USA)
Saturday, Feb. 5, 20:00 (semifinal #2): Canada vs. TBD (Russia or Czech Republic)
Sunday, Feb. 6, 11:30: Bronze
Sunday, Feb. 6, 15:00: Final

FINAL PRELIMINARY ROUND STANDINGS

1. Russia 9 pts (pool winner)
2. Belarus 8 pts (pool winner)
3. Kazakhstan 6 pts (pool winner)
4. Canada 7 pts
5. Slovakia 6 pts
6. Japan 5 pts
7. USA 6 pts (third in pool)
8. Czech Republic 4 pts
9. Slovenia 3 pts
10. Spain 0 pts
11. South Korea 0 pts
12. Turkey 0 pts