ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) Canadas mens hockey team suffered a heart-breaking 3-2 shootout loss to Belarus in its second of three preliminary round games at the Winter Universiade tournament, Saturday night, at Cemal Gursel Arena.
IIHF game summary: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/pdfts/IHM400B03/C74
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter
2011 Winter Universiade website: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/english
The red-and-white squad comprised of all-stars from the Ontario University Athletics conference drops to 1-1 in round-robin action good for second place in Pool B, after opening the competition with a 9-0 shutout of Slovenia on Thursday. Belarus crushed South Korea 8-1 on Friday and leads Pool B with a perfect 2-0 record.
Belarus has already secured a spot in the next round with one game left against Slovenia, while the Canadians would do the same with a win in their final round-robin duel versus Korea (0-1) Monday at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET).
With the score tied 1-1 late in regulation, Carleton University forward Brandon MacLean of Burlington, Ont., gave Canada its first lead of the game, with 4:17 remaining, when he netted his team-leading fourth goal of the tournament during a two-man advantage.
But Belarus refused to go down without a fight and Pavel Razvadouski sent the affair to extra time when he beat Western Ontario netminder Anthony Grieco with only 49 seconds left.
After a scoreless five-minute overtime period, a shootout session was necessary and Belarus was good on three of six attempts, while MacLean scored Canadas only two goals, also on six opportunities.
They played a tight checking game. There wasnt a lot of room to move, said MacLean, who unfortunately missed high on his third attempt in the shootout. We competed hard but couldnt capitalize on our chances.
Were proud of the effort of all 22 players, commented Canadian head coach Clarke Singer from Western Ontario. The team battled hard and unfortunately didnt get the result that we wanted.
Grieco stopped 34 of 36 shots in regulation and overtime, while Canada peppered Stepan Goryachevskikh with 44 pucks, including a 19-9 edge in the opening frame.
Despite the lopsided shot count in the first 20 minutes, it was Belarus who opened the scoring at the 4:56 mark when Artsiom Demkov completed a play initiated by Razvadouski while their team was playing a man down.
Canada tied it at 1-1 midway through the second stanza thanks to Wilfrid Laurier forward Jean-Michel Rizk of Mississauga, Ont., who potted his second of the tourney during a power play.
The Canadians capitalized on two of nine power-play chances in the match and were perfect on five penalty kills.
After scoring Belarus two goals in regulation, Demkov and Razvadouski were also the heroes in the shootout for the winners.
Demkov lost the puck on his first attempts but scored on his next two, including the game-winner, while Razvadouski beat Grieco once on two tries.
SCORING SUMMARY
Belarus 3, Canada 2 (3-2 in shootout)
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. BLR Artsiom Demkov (2) (Pavel Razvadouski), 4:56 SH
PENALTIES:
Aliaksandr Kachan (BLR) interference, 3:55;
Ilya Kaznadzei (BLR) boarding, 5:54;
Marc-Andr Dorion (CAN) tripping, 10:09;
Aliaksandr Kitarau (BLR) hooking, 14:27.
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
2. CAN Jean-Michel Rizk (2) (Keaton Turkiewicz, Kyle Sonnenburg), 9:09 PP
PENALTIES:
Maxime Langelier-Parent (CAN) tripping, 0:58;
Ilia Shinkevitch (BLR) interference, 2:03;
Pavel Razvadouski (BLR) hooking, 7:18;
Maxime Langelier-Parent (CAN) charging, 12:32;
Team (BLR) too many men, 15:43.
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
3. CAN Brandon MacLean (4) (Matt Caria, Kevin Baker), 15:43 PP2
4. BLR Pavel Razvadouski (2) (Artsiom Demkov), 19:11
PENALTIES:
Maxime Langelier-Parent (CAN) slashing, 1:19;
Rustam Azimau (BLR) 7:45, hooking;
Keaton Turkiewiz (CAN) high sticking, 12:13;
Aliaksandr Siomachkin (BLR) holding, 14:13;
Mikhail Kharamanda (BLR) cross-checking, 14:36;
Jean-Michel Rizk (CAN) roughing, 18:08;
Aliaksandr Paulovich (BLR) roughing, 18:08.
OVERTIME (5 minutes)
SCORING:
No scoring
PENALTIES:
No penalties
SHOOTOUT
1. BLR Artsiom Demkov: lost the puck
2. CAN Brandon MacLean: GOAL
3. BLR Pavel Razvadouski: GOAL
4. CAN Kevin Baker: saved
5. BLR Aliaksandr Siomachkin: missed
6. CAN Chris Ray: missed
7. CAN Brandon MacLean: GOAL
8. BLR Artsiom Demkov: GOAL
9. CAN Brandon MacLean: missed
10. BLR Pavel Razvadouski: missed
11. CAN Jean-Michel Rizk: missed
12. BLR Artsiom Demkov: GOAL
GOALS (by period)
BLR: 1-0-1-0: 3
CAN: 0-1-1-0: 2
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
BLR: 9-14-11-2: 36
CAN: 19-7-14-4: 44
POWER PLAY:
BLR: 0-5
CAN: 2-9
GOALTENDERS
BLR Stepan Goryachevskikh (W, 1-0, 44 shots, 42 saves, 2 GA, 65:00)
CAN Anthony Grieco (L, 1-1, 36 shots, 34 saves, 2 GA, 65:00)
TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (local time)
Thursday, Jan. 27: Canada 9, Slovenia 0
Saturday, Jan. 29, 20:00: Belarus 3, Canada 2 (3-2 in shootout)
Monday, Jan. 31, 20:00: Canada vs. Korea
Thursday, Feb. 3, TBD: Quarter-finals
Saturday, Feb. 5, 16:30: Semifinal #1
Saturday, Feb. 5, 20:00: Semifinal #2
Sunday, Feb. 6, 11:30: Bronze
Sunday, Feb. 6, 15:00: Final