Canada 9 Russia 2
BRECLAV, Czech Republic — Canada beat Russia in the under-18 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka hockey tournament final for a second straight summer, and won the event for a fifth time in six years by playing its style of game.
Some big early hits set the tone and continued physical play wore down the Russians as Canada cruised to gold with a 9-2 victory Saturday.
Tyler Seguin of the Plymouth Whalers found the net twice while Brandon Gormeley of the Moncton Wildcats and Ryan Spooner of the Peterborough Petes also scored during a four-goal, second-period outburst that effectively decided things. And it was Canada’s rough-and-tumble ways that set it all up.
“We got the kids playing the right way,” said head coach Bob Boughner, his players hooting and hollering in the background. “We know how the Russians wanted to play, they want the puck turned over and to trade chances.
“What we did is just chip (the puck) to open areas, dump it in and get on the forecheck and take the body to them. Over the course of the game we just wore them down and that’s when the offence starts coming.”
Defenceman Alex Petrovic represented the Red Deer Rebels on Team Canada.
Gormeley opened the scoring in the first, Jeff Skinner of the Kitchener Rangers also picked up a pair while Jaden Schwartz of the Notre Dame Hounds and John McFarland of the Sudbury Wolves had the other goals for Canada, which led 2-1 after 20 minutes and 6-2 through 40.
Kiril Kabanov and Stanislav Galiev replied for the Russians, who were worn down by their opponents’ punishing physical game.
Louis Domingue of the Wildcats stopped 20 shots for the win. Last year, Canada beat Russia 6-3 in the final.