ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) Carleton University forward Brandon MacLean scored the game-winner midway through the third period as Canadas mens hockey team wrapped up the preliminary round of the Winter Universiade tournament with a 3-2 victory over South Korea, Monday night, at Cemal Gursel Arena.
IIHF game summary: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/pdfts/IHM400B05/C74
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter
2011 Winter Universiade website: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/english
Canada ends round-robin play with two wins and a shootout loss - good for seven points - in three outings. The all-star cast made up of standouts from the Ontario University Athletics conference has qualified for Thursdays quarterfinals but has to wait for the result of Tuesdays game between Belarus (2-0) and Slovenia (1-1) to see if it will finish in first or second place in Pool B.
Early on, it looked as though the Canadians would skate to an easy win against the Koreans, who entered the duel with an 0-2 record and had been outscored 18-3 in their first two matches.
University of Waterloo forward Chris Ray of Kelowna, B.C., opened the scoring only two minutes and 55 seconds into the contest with a short-handed marker and gave Canada a 2-0 cushion only 5:15 in with his second of the night, and his third of the tournament.
But from there, the story of the game was Korean netminder Hyun Ho Hwang, who stopped 58 of 61 shots on the evening including 23 saves in the first period, 14 in the middle stanza and 21 in the final frame.
At the other end of the ice, University of Windsor goalie Jim Watt of Edmonton, making his first start of the tourney, finished with 14 saves.
Korea tied the affair at 2-2 in the second frame on goals by Dae Hun Kwon and Jun Young Jang, who netted the equalizer at 18:10 during a two-man advantage.
Canada was all over its rivals in the third, outshooting them 22-2 in the final 20 minutes, but had to wait until the 10:43 mark to retake the lead, this time for good.
With 16 seconds left on a power play, MacLean took advantage of a scrum in front of Hwangs cage to net his team-leading fifth of the competition.
When you get the game-winning goal its always quite nice, said the Burlington, Ont., native, who had a hat-trick in Canadas opener against Slovenia last Thursday and scored once in regulation and twice in the shootout in a 3-2 loss to Belarus on Saturday. We got a little complacent and lost our edge after we went up early but we got it back later on.
Canadian head coach Clarke Singer was both happy and relieved after the game.
We had a pretty good effort overall, said the Western Ontario bench boss. We ran into a hard-working team with a great goaltender who stood on his head and kept his team in it.
We will have to improve our physical play and capitalize on chances in the medal round.
SCORING SUMMARY
Canada 3, South Korea 2
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. CAN Chris Ray (2) (Kevin Baker, Geoff Killing), 2:55 SH
2. CAN Chris Ray (3) (Francis Charland), 5:13
PENALTIES:
Yashar Farmanara (CAN) high sticking, 1:04.
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
3. KOR Dae Hun Kwon (1) (Min Kyu Suh), 11:22
4. KOR Jun Young Jang (1) (Min Kyu Suh), 18:10 PP2
PENALTIES:
Matt Caria (CAN) interference, 3:50;
Yashar Farmanara (CAN) interference, 5:17;
Hyung Ki Kwak (KOR) hooking, 8:23;
Hyung Ki Kwak (KOR) hooking, 12:27;
Geoff Killing (CAN) slashing, 16:15;
Team (CAN) delay of game, 16:19.
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
5. CAN Brandon MacLean (5) (Dominic Jalbert, Matt Caria), 10:43 PP
PENALTIES:
Jae Hyeong Cho (KOR) delay of game, 0:22;
Kyle Sonnenburg (CAN) slashing, 4:32;
Young Jun Lee (KOR) slashing, 5:01;
Hyung Ki Kwak (KOR) kneeing, 8:59.
GOALS (by period)
CAN: 2-0-1: 3
KOR: 0-2-0: 2
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 25-14-22: 61
KOR: 4-10-2: 16
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 1-5
KOR: 1-6
GOALTENDERS
CAN Jim Watt (W, 1-0, 16 shots, 14 saves, 2 GA, 60:00)
KOR Hyun Ho Hwang (L, 61 shots, 58 saves, 3 GA, 60:00)
REFEREE: Martin Gasparik (SVK)
LINESMEN: Erhan Bulut (TUR), Peter Stano (SVK)
ATTENDANCE: 1000
START: 20:00
END: 22:07
LENGTH: 2:07
POOL STANDINGS (Preliminary round: each team plays 3 games)
Scoring system:
3 points for a win in regulation
2 points for a win in overtime or shootout
1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout
Pool A (FINAL)
GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1. Russia 3 3 0 0 0 34 3 9
2. Japan 3 1 1 0 1 22 4 5
3. Czech Rep. 3 1 0 1 1 18 7 4
4. Turkey 3 0 0 0 3 0 60 0
Pool B (1 game remaining)
1. Canada 3 2 0 1 0 14 5 7
2. Belarus 2 1 1 0 0 11 3 5
4. Slovenia 2 1 0 0 1 10 11 3
3. South Korea 3 0 0 0 3 5 21 0
Pool C (2 games remaining)
1. Kazakhstan 2 2 0 0 0 7 0 6
2. USA 2 1 0 0 1 7 8 3
3. Slovakia 2 1 0 0 1 11 8 3
4. Spain 2 0 0 0 2 1 10 0
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, TBD Quarter-finals: Canada vs. TBD
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