Canada is sitting Tavares as he is jet lagged and sitting Binnington because it is Great Britain. But Great Britain looked a whole lot better than I would of imagined. I mean not that Canada looked like a team with guys that multi million dollar contracts either. Its their first game right. I don’t want to sound negative but I think Canada will be lucky to even medal at this tournament. But who knows. I will probably fall asleep at some point during this game, still haven’t slept.
Laim Kirk opened up the scoring for the Brits, BUT. It was called goalie interference after he stripped Tanev. But yeah someone Curran did smack Hofer in the net. I kind of feel bad for them. The Brits challenged it too. It stood and Canada went on the Power Play
Liam Kirk finally does score for Britain an actual goal to put them up on Canada 1-0 on the Power Play. The assists on the goal went to Evan Mosey and Ben Lake at 7:37 of the first period. Mosey is from Illinois and played a season of junior hockey with Wenatchee back when they were in the NAHL. Ben Lake is from Calgary and played three seasons with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL.
Then Pittsburgh Penguin Michael Bunting ties it up for Canada moments later from Bowen Byram at 8:17 of the first period.
Shots on goal in the first period were 12-3 for Canada
Former Red Deer Rebel Brandon Hagel makes it a 2-1 game when he fired a shot upstairs. The assist on the goal went to Olen Zellweger and Pierre Luc Dubois at 5:45 of the second period.
Connor Bedard snipes one upstairs to make it a 3-1 game at 10:39 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Michael Bunting and Olen Zelwegger.
Connor Bedard scores his second goal of the game at 15:29 of the second period with the assists going to Nick Paul and Kaiden Guhle.
Shots on goal in the second period were 16-8 for Canada
Ben O’Connor of the Dundee Stars of the EIHL made it a 4-2 game for the Brits at 8:49 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Liam Kirk and Ollie Bettiridge.
Shots on goal in the third period were 6-4 for Canada
Joel Hofer made 13 saves on the 15 shots that he faced for the win for Canada. While former Kelowna Rockets goalie Jackson Whistle made 30 saves on the 35 shots that he faced for Great Britain.
Connor Bedard was named player of the game for Canada
Canada plays Denmark tomorrow at a decent time so it will be more fun to watch.
Other tournament notes: Prince Albert Raiders forward Krzysztof Macias plays for team Poland (scored too against Latvia).