Canada Red win spices up Group B play

All four teams in Group B will head into the final day of round-robin play with a victory after Canada Red beat Sweden 4-3 in a close overtime affair at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

For the first time in the tournament, Canada Red found themselves in the lead, and doing so against a very talented Swedish squad. After 2020 NHL draft superstar Alexander Holtz missed a good scoring chance at one end, Canada went the other way and had Kaiden Guhle take a shot from the point, with Stephen Halliday tipping in the bouncing puck past Jesper Wallstadt to make it 1-0 at 8:43.

Then, at 13:09, Jacob Perreault would find the net for Canada. The son of former NHLer Yanic, Perreault used his speed to blow past Hugo Styf before beating Jesper Wallstedt between the legs, giving Canada the surprising 2-0 lead before the end of the first period.

A pair of goals by young Swedish star Lucas Raymond in the second changed the course of the game. First, Raymond and fellow 2020 NHL draft phenom Alexander Holtz traded passes near the point, only to have Raymond rip a hard slap shot past Will Cranley. Then, at 11:37, Raymond used his tremendous speed to blow past Guhle and trick Cranley into moving before the shot, allowing the Swede to tie the game at two.

A pair of goals after the midway point of the third period brought new life to the game. Holtz would score a highlight reel goal by using his explosive acceleration to blast past Perreault and create a breakaway chance for himself, beating Cranley with a quick wrister at 14:05 to make it 3-2, Sweden's first advantage of the game. 

But it wouldn't last long. At 14:29, Matthew Maggio found Evan Vierling all alone in front, sending the game to overtime. There, Raymond came within inches of scoring early in the extra frame, only to have Cranley keep it out at the last second. At the other end, Seth Jarvis would set up  William Dufour on two separate rushes, with the second chance working out for Canada as the puck would go in and Canada Red would take the 4-3 victory on Monday.

The two teams will be in action again for the final day of round-robin play, with Sweden challenging Russia at 12:00 PM AST and Canada White meeting up with the Czech Republic at 7:30 PM.

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