Canada advances to gold medal game Para ice hockey worlds

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic – Special team goals by Liam Hickey and Tyler McGregor were enough for Canada in a 2-1 semifinal victory on Friday over the Russian Paralympic Committee at the 2021 World Para Ice Hockey Championships.

Hickey, from St. John’s N.L. notched a shorthanded marker in the first period and McGregor added a power play goal in the second to put Canada ahead 2-0. 

“It was a gutsy effort from our entire team,’’ said Canada’s head coach Ken Babey about the hard-hitting affair. ‘’Even when we were faced with adversity, our group stayed composed and focused on getting the win.’’

Mikhail Miachin solved Canadian goaltender Dominic Larocque with less than six minutes to go in the second frame. The Russians pressured the Canadians late in the period and squandered three power play opportunities in the third but Canada’s defence led by Larocque held the fort when needed.

“We had quite a few penalties, but we must have had a pretty good penalty kill percentage because our defencemen were doing a great job of supporting [Larocque],’’ said Billy Bridges, who delivered a perfect pass through the slot on the winning goal. ‘’We came out ready to play and I think that was apparent in the way we battled every shift and took advantage of our scoring opportunities.”

The Russians were making their first appearance at the worlds since winning the bronze in 2015. 

“RPC was an unbelievable test for us,’’ added McGregor. ‘It took all 15 players to get the job done. Despite the score being close I thought we had some great scoring opportunities that we could have capitalized on.’’

In the other semifinal, the U.S. defeated South Korea 10-0. The Canadians defeated the Americans 2-1 in the round robin opener last Saturday. 

The U.S. beat Canada 3-2 in overtime at the last worlds in 2019 and 2-1 in OT in the gold medal final at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Canada’s last world title was in 2017.

‘’We have an opportunity to bring home a gold medal and we know we will need to play our best game,’’ said Babey. ‘’This team is certainly up for the challenge.”

Saturday’s gold medal game starts at 3 p.m. (EDT).

Audiences across the country can watch Canada’s games live and on-demand at Paralympic.ca and the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Facebook page. CLICK HERE for more broadcast information. 

Quotes provided by Hockey Canada