Canadian shooters go cold in Kazakhstan
Puck luck eluded the Canadian women in the goldmedal hockey game at the Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
U Sports’ student-athletes went an inexplicable 0-for-14 on the power play en route to a 4-1 loss to Russia in Monday’s championship.
New Hamburg’s Kelty Apperson, a prolific fifth-year forward for the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton, N.B., scored Canada’s lone goal.
“We just couldn’t bury the puck,” Apperson said in a release. “We had lots of opportunities to get it deep and put it in the net but we just couldn’t do that — a lot of missed opportunities, for sure.”
Monday’s contest was played before a standing-room-only boisterous crowd of 5,000 proRussian fans in the former Soviet republic.
Team Canada — including University of Waterloo Warriors forward Rachel Marriott and goalie Stephanie Sluys, along with coach Shaun Regan — played nearly eight minutes with a two-man advantage.
The Russian women, who downed Canada 3-0 in the goldmedal game at the previous Universiade, or FISU Games, in Spain in 2015, went 2-for-6 on the power play Monday.
“(The Russians) played a strong defensive system,” added Apperson after she finished the five-game event with three goals and four assists.
“They were very aggressive on the (penalty kill).”
Canada’s university all-stars captured gold at the 2009 Games in China, in 2011 in Turkey and in Trentino, Italy in 2013.
“I’m very proud of our girls,” said Canada’s head coach, Rachel Flanagan, of the University of Guelph.
“They played well this week. (Monday) they left everything on the ice. They battled to the very last second.”
Canada’s hockey men, including UW Warriors blueliner Mike Moffat and coach Brian Bourque, swing back into action Tuesday when they battle Russia in semifinal play.
Stingy Furlong backstops hockey Hawks Cambridge native Colin Furlong made a combined 68 saves in back-to-back weekend wins as his hockey Laurier Golden Hawks secured home-ice advantage for the first round of playoffs.
Furlong posted his first career Ontario University Athletics shutout, a 1-0 decision over the Toronto Varsity Blues, and then fended off 43 shots en route to a 3-2 double OT victory over the Ryerson Rams.
The third-year communications student now has the fourthbest save percentage (.927) in the conference.
The Hawks (14-9-4) shoot for a fifth straight win when they entertain Windsor on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Waterloo Rec Complex in their regular-season finale.
UW’s men (11-12-3) are also playoff bound. They entertain Windsor and Toronto at Columbia Icefield to wrap up their regular season on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., respectively.
CRIB NOTES: Laurier Golden Hawks offensive co-ordinator Mark Surya has left the defending Yates Cup champs to join the University of Toronto’s football team … UW’s freshman sensation Nedim Hodzic (Sir John A. Macdonald) averaged 20.5 points and eight rebounds through the basketball Warriors’ previous two contests, a win over McMaster and a loss to Brock … UW’s Vinit Kudva was named the OUA men’s squash coach of the year for a fourth straight time while Warriors’ Ravi Seth (Fergus) was named top rookie and an all-star. His teammate Charlotte Copas (Toronto) copped an all-star selection.