Canada faces improving China in Friday’s semifinals at Para ice hockey worlds

CALGARY – Canada won its three preliminary round games in decisive fashion this week at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships, but head coach Russ Herrington is somewhat concerned that his troops are killing too many penalties.

That was particularly evident in Canada’s last round-robin game against Czechia, a 5-1 victory over the defending bronze medallists. In the first period alone, Canada was sent to the sin bin three times and after 15 minutes it was a worrisome 1-1 draw.

“We cannot go to the penalty box as much as we did,” said Herrington. “Our goal is to take each challenge one-by-one and not get caught looking behind or ahead of us.”

Canada’s other two victories were double digit shutout wins over Japan and Italy which produced impressive offensive numbers for the victors. Liam Hickey of St. John’s N.B. is the tournament scoring leader with six goals and 10 assists for 16 points, Dominic Cozzolino of Mississauga, Ont. follows at 5-10-15 and Tyler McGregor is at 9-5-14.

“Everyone from top-to-bottom is playing connected,” said McGregor, the team captain. ‘’We are getting contributions from everyone, protecting the middle of the ice, playing physical and managing the bluelines well, which is a major key to our success.”

Canada faces China on Friday in its semifinal. The Chinese were second in pool B with two wins and one loss and were fourth in their worlds debut last year.

‘’There’s some countries that have earned the right to be in the medal conversation here and China is one of them,’’ said Herrington. “China’s very skilled and fast. They finish their checks and it’s stingy to play against them. So it’s going to be interesting.’’

Like the Canadians, the defending three-time champion Americans cruised through the preliminary round and face the Czechs in the other semi.

The Canada-China match is set for 5:30 p.m. local (7:30 p.m. ET) at WinSport. The game can be livestreamed for free at HockeyCanada.ca.

The medal games are on Sunday.