As part of their training camp, Team Canada played a very special test match today ahead of the U18 World Championship, which begins on Wednesday in Slovakia. The two finalists from last year faced each other. Canada had three reigning world champions in the lineup: Verhoeff, Di Iorio, and Lin. For Sweden, only Viggo Björck was part of last year’s team in Texas. It was definitely a perfect test and a good benchmark for both teams.
Canada started the game with strong pressure and immediately took control. Already in the 3rd minute, Adam Valentini opened the scoring. He drove to the front of the Swedish net and beat goaltender Viggo Tamm while falling down to give Canada a 1-0 lead. Canada continued to dictate the pace, but repeatedly gave Sweden power-play opportunities. Although the Swedes had some chances, Canadian goaltender Gavin Betts was unbeatable in the first period. The second period followed a similar pattern. Canada remained in control, and after wasting a power play, Zach Lansard made it 2-0 in the 29th minute with a shot that gave Viggo Tamm no chance.Sweden now had to react, but shortly afterwards a quick Canadian breakaway was finished by Brock England to make it 3-0. At that point the game looked decided, but towards the end of the second period, penalties started to pile up on both sides in what had otherwise been a very fair game. Sweden pulled one back at 4-on-4 through Malte Gustafsson with 5:30 left in the period. Then, just 49.2 seconds before the intermission, Nils Bartholdsson scored to make it 3-2 and suddenly the game was wide open again.
In the final 20 minutes, Sweden pushed hard for the equalizer, but the Canadian defense tightened up and Gavin Betts stood tall, keeping the Swedes from scoring any more goals.With 7:24 remaining, Adam Valentini scored again on another Canadian breakaway to make it 4-2 and essentially seal the victory. Sweden got one last power play in the 57th minute and pulled their goalie for a 6-on-5 advantage, but they couldn’t find the net. Instead, Tynan Lawrence scored into the empty net with 46.8 seconds left to make the final score 5-2 after 60 minutes.
