Saturday, April 9, 2011

Canada wins exhibtion open over the USA

Press Release

Dresden, Germany - Malcolm Subban made 25 saves as Canada beat the United States 2-1 in a tune-up game Saturday ahead of the world men's under-18 championship.

After a scoreless first period, Brett Ritchie of Orangeville, Ont., opened the scoring 39 seconds into the second period.

The Americans answered at 7:03 when Rocco Grimaldi scored on the power play with Daniel Catenacci serving a slashing penalty. Catenacci, of Newmarket, Ont., made up for it by scoring the power-play winner at 4:16 of the third period.

Canada head coach Mike Williamson pointed to the play of Subban, the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban, as an early bright spot.

"He played terrific for us, especially early on when our skates weren't really underneath us," said Williamson. "We were standing and watching a little bit. The U.S. had quite a few chances early on in the game. I thought the first 10 minutes he played so well, stood up tall and gave us a chance to get going. There was a lot of positives tonight and that was definitely one of them."'

Subban will share goaltending duties at the tournament with Andrew D'Agostini, also of Toronto. The 22-player roster includes 14 players from the Ontario Hockey League, six players from the Western Hockey League and two players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Canada finished seventh at last year's tournament in Belarus. Canada last won gold in 2008.

Canada plays two more exhibition games against Sweden and Germany before opening the preliminary round of the tournament Friday against the Czech Republic.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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