ALLEN — Braeden Cootes scored twice and added an assist, Ryan Roobroeck had a goal and three assists, and Canada defeated Norway 8-1 at the under-18 men's world hockey championship on Monday.
Lev Katzin also scored twice for the Canadians, who finished Group A play at the Credit Union of Texas Center in first place with a 4-0 record. Norway finished with no wins, one overtime loss and three regulation losses.
Slovakia finished second in Group A, followed by Finland, Latvia and Norway.
Alessandro Di Iorio, Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff netted singles for the winners, who led 2-1 after the first period and 5-1 heading into the third. Brady Martin, Ben Kindel and Reschny each chipped in with two assists.
Mikkel Eriksen scored for Norway, which was outshot 64-18.
Netminder Jack Ivankovic played the first 40 minutes for Canada., making 12 saves on 13 shots. Lukas Beckman played the third period and stopped all five shots he faced.
“We stuck with it tonight. Tough start for sure — we weren’t happy with our first period at all. Once we got that third goal though, things started to change for us and we got better as the game went on," said Martin.
"Obviously, it’s do-or-die from here on out, so the margin for error is zero. Everyone has to come ready to play now. It’s a pretty simple message.”
Assistant coach Travis Crickard said it took time for Canada to get going against underdog Norway, but was pleased with the end result.
“The shift for us happed later in the second period, which is certainly later than we wanted it to. It came down to the messaging from coach (Cory) Stillman between the first and second period. We have to play straight line hockey instead of east to west hockey," said Crickard.
"We started getting pucks in behind Norway’s defence and using some physicality to wear them down. Fortunately, we were able to start doing those things near the latter half of the second period and that’s when I felt things changed for us.”
Canada will play Czechia in Wednesday's quarterfinals. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday, and the gold-medal game and bronze-medal final are set for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2025.
The Canadian Press