Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team wrapped up its pre-tournament schedule ahead of the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup on Saturday, posting a 5-0 victory over co-host Czechia.
- Ryder Ritchie (Calgary, AB/Prince Albert, WHL), Carson Wetsch (North Vancouver, BC/Calgary, WHL), Porter Martone (Peterborough, ON/Mississauga, OHL), Michael Misa (Oakville, ON/Saginaw, OHL), and Justin Poirier (Valleyfield, QC/Baie-Comeau, LHJMQ) provided the scoring.
- Malcolm Spence (Mississauga, ON/Erie, OHL) had two assists.
- Maxim Massé (Rimouski, QC/Chicoutimi, LHJMQ), Berkly Catton (Saskatoon, SK/Spokane, WHL) and Henry Mews (Ottawa, ON/Ottawa, OHL) each recorded an assist.
- Gabriel D’Aigle (Sorel-Tracy, QC/Victoriaville, LHJMQ) and Carter George (Thunder Bay, ON/Owen Sound, OHL) made 22 and eight saves, respectively, for the combined shutout.
- Canada outshot Czechia 33-30
Next Game:
Canada vs. Finland – Monday, July 31 (9:30 a.m. ET/6:30 a.m. PT)
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will broadcast all Team Canada games and select playoff-round games during the tournament; please check local listings for details.
Quotes:
“We are progressing day-by-day. We really used the time in Budapest to come together as a team and focus on progressing every day and coming together as a team. For the most part we played a pretty tight game five-on-five [tonight], we gave up way too many chances on the penalty kill and were in the box the entire game. We need to focus on being disciplined and keep progressing in that way.”
– Assistant coach Sylvain Favreau (Orleans, ON/Drummondville, LHJMQ) on staying disciplined.
“With these tournaments you have to come together quick, and I feel like through our on-ice and off-ice activities, through practices and games, we have really clicked together and built a lot of chemistry as a group. We started a little slow in the first period but came together for the second and third. I thought it was a good, complete effort tonight.”
– Wetsch on building chemistry as a team.
“I feel like everyone here is bonding together really well. Bonding off the ice has brought us even closer on the ice and we are really coming together just in time for the start of the tournament. If we keep playing the right way, like the coaches are teaching us, we are going to have nothing but success in this tournament. We took care of our own end tonight and both of our goalies bailed us out when we needed them to. We played a good 200-foot game and our good defense led to our great offense.”
– Martone on playing well as a group.
