World Junior A Challenge Recap – December 14

Canada West blanked Latvia and the U.S. got its second win of the tournament Wednesday in Eastern Ontario.

Canada West 10, Latvia 0

• Ty Daneault (Red Deer, Alta./Drumheller, AJHL) tied a tournament record with four goals, including two in 14 seconds, and added an assist for Canada West.
• Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alta./Brooks, AJHL) had two goals and an assist.
• Defenceman Sam Court (Winnipeg, Man./Brooks, AJHL) had a goal and two assists.
• Andrew Ness (Winnipeg, Man./Fort McMurray, AJHL) made six saves for the shutout.

United States 7, Canada East 2• Quinn Finley had two goals and an assist for the United States.
• Trent Crane (Morden, Man./Summerside, MHL) provided two assists for Canada East.
• Sam Rinzel had a goal and an assist for the U.S.
• Adam Barone (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./Cobourg, OJHL) and Matthew Cato (Whitby, Ont./Trenton, OJHL) scored for Canada East.
• Jacob Fowler made 23 saves for the win.

Next game – Thursday, December 15:
• Canada West vs. Sweden – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT

Quotes:
“We have talked about our identity being something to establish early in the tournament, making sure that we are playing our western Canadian way, being hard to play against, making it difficult for opponents to come through us. We will prepare for the next 24 hours, move onto Sweden and make sure we take our Game 7 mentality into each day.”
• Canada West assistant coach Evan McFeeters (Canmore, Alta./Sherwood Park, AJHL) on his team’s mentality.
“We do not have a lot of time to come close [as a team], so it has to happen quick. We have been spending a lot of time together and are getting close, which has been nice. We had lots of great plays, lots of our guys getting on the scoresheet, it was a solid game all around. We are going up against a good team tomorrow night [in Sweden] and it has to be a good game from us.”
• Daneault on finding success as a team.
“We are going to take this game and forget it, get refocused again. At the end of the day, we did not play our game today. We had a slow start, it was a penalty-filled game, there was no flow to the game. There is a lot of pressure on us; they come with a lot of heat so we have to learn to play under pressure, make little plays and learn to make the plays a little quicker.”
• Canada East head coach Billy McGuigan (Summerside, P.E.I./Summerside, MHL) on the changes needed from his team.
“Obviously it was a tough loss, but we will move on and try to get better. We need to have a good practice tomorrow and then try to have a better game against Sweden and come out with a win. I can not express how grateful I am to be here, to represent the team [as captain] is a really good feeling. As a team though, we are all leaders.”
• Canada East captain Crane on needing to bounce back as a team.
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada will broadcast the bronze medal and gold medal games from the Cornwall Civic Complex; please check local listings for details. All preliminary-round games and semifinals are livestreamed for purchase at HockeyCanada.ca.

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