Canada struggles in win over Korea
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Canada had a difficult time finishing off South Korea on Sunday, looking unconvincing for large parts of a 4-0 win over the host country.
Third-period goals by Maxim Lapierre and Gilbert Brule helped make the score look more flattering for Canada, which struggled for two periods to assert its superiority.
“They stick around,” Canadian winger Wojtek Wolski said. “They had some chances on the power play. The game was a lot closer than the score shows.”
“They work their butts off and their goalie seems to play well against us. Maybe because he’s Canadian, he steps up,” defenseman Chris Lee said. “I don’t know if we could have got any more shots at him.”
Matt Dalton, a 31-year-old from Clinton, Ontario, who is one of seven North Americans on the Korean team, made 45 saves that included the first period when the shot count was 14-1 at one point.
“After the first period I was trying to get some salt tablets or something. My legs were starting to cramp up a little bit ... It woke me up, that’s for sure,” Dalton said.
Christian Thomas and Eric O’Dell also scored for Canada.
Earlier in the day, Dominik Kubalik scored the game-winning goal for the Czech Republic three minutes into the third period, and goaltender Pavel Francouz made 28 saves in a 4-1 victory over Switzerland, which assured the Czechs the top spot in Group A with eight points, one ahead of Canada.
Sweden beat Finland 3-1 to win Group C in the preliminary round. Patrik Zackrisson scored the winning goal for the Swedes, knocking in a rebound of Johan Fransson’s slap shot at 8:53 of the third.
With all preliminary round group games completed, the four teams that proceed directly to the quarterfinals are group winners Sweden, Czech Republic and the Russians, along with Canada, which led the second-place teams in points.
The United States will play Slovakia in the qualification round of the tournament playoffs. The other qualification games are Finland vs. South Korea, Switzerland vs. Germany and Slovenia vs. Norway.
All four qualification games will be played Tuesday, with the winners advancing to Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Canada, Sweden and Finland are in the same half of the draw, with the other half containing the Russians, the Czech Republic and the U.S. The Americans would face the Czech Republic if they make the quarterfinals.