Controversial goal gives Canada berth in Hlinka Gretzky Cup final
It should have been woe Canada on Friday night.
But instead Team USA got all the sour notes.
The Americans got three goals from Nick Robertson and what appeared to be a winner from Luke Toporowski in the third, but were gobsmacked when a last-gasp goal by Canada’s Dylan Cozens counted to send the contest to overtime tied at 5-5.
This despite the fact TSN’s clock hit straight zeros before Cozens even got his shot off.
There’s no video replay in the tournament.
Josh Williams came off the bench in overtime on a line change and ripped a shot past American goalie Dylan Wolf at 1:44 into the extra period for his second of the night as Canada escaped with a smelly 6-5 victory in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Too bad, because it was a thrilling game from first drop to last.
It’s been a given that Canada wins the summer under-18 hockey tournament as often as the Zamboni comes out to clean the ice — 21 of the last 27 titles, including nine of the last 10 — and Canada will once again play in the gold medal Saturday. They meet Sweden, the team they beat 4-3 in the round robin.
The first 20 minutes played before 4,656 fans was absolutely wild action, with four goals scored in the first 11 shots and five in the period.
There was a power-play goal by the U.S. winger Robertson that was in and out under the water bottle on top of the net, but didn’t count until the zebras conferred as play continued for over a minute. And there was a lacrosse-type goal by his Team USA teammate Aaron Huglen, who flipped the puck onto his blade and casually back-handed it past Nolan Maier.
Around those goals, Canadian captain Alexis Lafreniere, the unanimous top dog in the tournament, tucked one around defenceman Luke Fox with a ho-hum move and buried one on Wolf, who was Carter Hart’s backup with the Everett Silvertips.
High energy winger Jamieson Rees got the other first-period goal for Canada, playing without winger Jakob Pelletier, who hurt his arm against the Swedes on Wednesday.
Robertson, who plays in Peterborough and is from a suburb of Detroit, tucked one through Maier’s legs to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead.
In the second period, Lafreniere got his eighth point in four tournament games, more than anybody else, setting up Xavier Parent to send it to the third frame tied 3-3.
Williams gave Canada a 4-3 lead before Robertson and Toporowski struck just 95 seconds apart.
SWEDEN BEATS RUSSIA
In a wild finish after a sleepy first 40 minutes, Swedish centre Karl Henriksson lifted his underdog club into the gold-medal game in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, scoring with 45 seconds left on Friday night to defeat Russia 2-1.
After Russian winger Vasili Podkolzin went end to end, splitting the Swedish defence and backhanding a shot by goalie Hugo Alnefelt with 114 seconds to play, Henriksson stunned the favoured Russians in the last minute.
His 20-footer beat Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov on the short side with the netminder too deep in his net.
The Swedes broke the scoreless tie on a power-play 40-footer by Philip Broberg, one of the tournament’s best defencemen, six minutes into the third. At that pointy it looked like the Swedes might blank the Russians, who had scored 18 goals in their three wins in Red Deer to top their pool.
Then probable 2019 top-10 pick Podkolzin scored the goal of the tournament.
“No goals in the first, no goals in the second ... and we knew then we were in a good position,” said Swedish coach Magnus Havelid. “Lucky (winning) goal maybe, but it was our night.
“We didn’t have the power in our legs and we needed our heads. Sometimes you need a plan B and you follow it.”
Neither team had much gas in the tank because it was their fourth game in five days, with the goldmedal game upcoming Saturday.