‘Blur’ produces big sledge hockey win
This may be the first time a team’s trainer gets credited — unofficially, of course — with an assist.
Billy Bridges scored while short-handed in the second period, which proved to be the winning goal for Canada in a 2-1 round-robin triumph over the U.S. at the 2012 World Sledge Hockey Challenge. But a heads-up play by Jan Antons at the Canada bench led to the all-important tally.
“I didn’t even know what I was doing,” explained Bridges. “Coach told me to go out and it was funny because I went out too soon and my trainer (Antons) actually reached over the boards, picked me right up and threw me back on the bench and by the time I got out there it was like receiving a pass from Peyton Manning. Adam Dixon is so amazing, off the glass, it landed nice and soft. The rest is kind of a blur.”
Bridges also added an assist on a goal by the same Dixon as Canada upended their biggest rival in probably the roughest game of the tournament to date in front of an appreciative crowd — one which included Calgary’s favourite hockey hound Harvey – at the Markin MacPhail Centre on Wednesday night.
In yesterday’s other tilt, Audun Bakke and Morten Vaernes scored in the shootout to give Norway a 1-0 triumph over Japan. With the victory, Canada now plays Japan in one semifinal today, with puck drop at 7 p.m. In the other, to be played at noon, the U.S. meets Norway.
“It’s really satisfying to beat the U.S.,” acknowledged Dixon. “We play each other a lot and we’ve developed quite the rivalry and we all know what gets under each other’s skin.”
Canada held the Americans off the scoresheet early on by virtue of some tough defence and strong positional play. It was the home team that managed to get on the board first after Bridges won the faceoff in the U.S. end, passed the puck back to the defenceman Dixon and he fired a point shot past Steve Cash at 6:47.
In a quickly-played second period, the aggressive nature continued at both ends, allowing both teams few opportunities to score. But leave it to the wily veteran Bridges to find a way.
“Jan released him at the perfect time, so a big assist to Jan and a big goal by Billy,” grinned Dixon.
“It was a smart play by Bridges and a dumb play by us,” suggested U.S. head coach Jeff Sauer. “We talk about letting people get behind us, watching the changes, all of those types of things. Give him the credit, he scored the goal when he had the opportunity.”
The U.S. came out strong in the third, attempting like mad to get back into the game, and just after their fourth extra-man opportunity, they did just that. With Benoit StAmand prone after making a spectacular save on an initial shot, Taylor Chace flipped it over the Canadian goalie with just over two minutes left in regulation.
“When we play the U.S., it’s almost like a script,” noted Canada’s head coach Mike Mondin. “Every game is close, they’re always emotional games and we bring the best out of each other.”
Mondin’s crew must now quickly forget this one and focus on Japan, a squad they thumped 11-0 on Monday.
“Our video coach said they outplayed Norway,” he related. “Japan has shown a lot of improvement, so we’ll see a different team than we saw earlier in the week.”