TRENTINO, Italy (CIS) – Pierre Vandall from Dalhousie
University had a goal and three assists and Nick MacNeil from UNB
scored his fifth and sixth of the tournament as the Canadian
men’s hockey team improved to 2-0 at the Winter Universiade
thanks to an 11-0 win over Ukraine, Friday night.
Bronze medalists in 2011, the Canucks will wrap up pool play
Sunday at 2 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Trentino) against Kazakhstan (1-0),
the country they edged 3-1 two years ago in the third-place match
of the biennial competition.
The Red and White led 3-0 after the opening period and 8-0 after
40 minutes and outshot its opponents 59-14, including 19-1 in the
first, 24-5 in the second and 16-8 in the third.
Up by three after the first intermission, the team of AUS
conference all-stars put the game away with a five-goal explosion
in a span of 6:03 early in the middle frame, including a trio of
power play markers.
Vandall, who hails from St. Louis de France, Que., led the way
with his four points, followed by MacNeil (2-1-3), Éric
Faille of Moncton (2-1-3), Liam Heelis of Acadia (1-2-3), Michael
Kirkpatrick of StFX (1-2-3) and defenceman Matthew Maione of UPEI
(0-3-3), who tallied three points apiece.
Faille scored the contest’s first two goals, including the
game-winner 13:28 in.
Saint Mary’s Cory Tanaka, with two, StFX’s Josh Day
and Acadia’s Mike Cazzola rounded out the scoring.
Saint Mary’s netminder Anthony Peters earned the shutout
in his first start of the tourney.
At the other end of the ice, Ukrainian goaltender Ievgenii
Napnenko was pulled after 20 minutes after allowing three goals on
19 shots. His replacement Andrii Bezkhlibnyi turned aside 32 pucks
the rest of the way.
“The key to this tournament is to find ways to get better
every day. This is our second game together as a group and
we’ve had three practices now so I thought some of the things
that we’ve worked on contributed to the success we had in the
game,” said Team Canada head coach Gardiner MacDougall from
UNB. “We had some peak performances from some players but
overall the whole team has played very well. It’s about team
cohesion, getting the chemistry off and on the ice, and right now
we are finding ways to get better.”
In 13 previous appearances at the FISU tourney, Canada has
reached the podium 12 times, including three gold medals, three
silver and six bronze. Its three triumphs came in 2007 when
represented by AUS standouts, 1991 (senior national team) and 1981
(Alberta Golden Bears).
SCORING
SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. CAN Éric Faille (3) (unassisted), 13:28
2. CAN Éric Faille (4) (Nick MacNeil, Michael Kirkpatrick),
17:18 PP
3. CAN Mike Cazzola (2) (Chris Desousa, Michael D’Orazio),
18:10
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
4. CAN Josh Day (1) (Chris Desousa, Matthew Maione), 5:05 PP
5. CAN Pierre Vandall (2) (Josh Day, Matthew Maione), 5:34 PP
6. CAN Nick MacNeil (5) (Liam Heelis), 6:29
7. CAN Cory Tanaka (3) (Pierre Vandall, Michael Kirkpatrick),
8:39
8. CAN Cory Tanaka (4) (Pierre Vandall, Matthew Miaone), 11:08
PP
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
9. CAN Liam Heelis (1) (Pierre Vandall), 2:39
10. CAN Nick MacNeil (6) (Mike Cazzola, Liam Heelis), 6:21
11. CAN Michael Kirkpatrick (2) (Éric Faille), 6:32
GOALS (by period)
CAN: 3-5-3: 11
UKR: 0-0-0: 0
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 19-24-16: 59
UKR: 1-5-8: 14
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 4-9
UKR: 0-4
GOALTENDERS
CAN – Anthony Peters (W, 1-0, 14 shots, 14 saves, 0 GA,
60:00)
UKR – Ievgenii Napnenko (L, 0-2, 19 shots, 16 saves, 3 GA,
20:00)
UKR – Andrii Bezkhlibnyi (40 shots, 32 saves, 8 GA,
40:00)
