LOIK SCORES TWICE TO LEAD CANADA WEST TO SEMIFINAL BERTH

LANGLEY, B.C. – Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, B.C./Penticton, BCHL) scored twice, including the game-winning goal midway through the second period, to help Canada West post its first win of the 2011 World Junior A Challenge on Thursday night, beating the Czech Republic 4-1 in quarter-final action.

The victory moves Canada West into Friday’s late semifinal (7:30 p.m. PT) against Sweden, which has been off since blanking the Canadians 2-0 in its final preliminary round game on Tuesday.

Loik got the scoring started for Canada West late in the first period, batting a rebound past Patrik Polivka, and made it 2-0 eight minutes into the second, using quick hands to slip the puck around a poke-checking Polivka.

Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ont./Vernon, BCHL), with Canada West’s first power play goal in 20 opportunities, and Travis St. Denis (Trail, B.C./Penticton, BCHL), on a shorthanded penalty shot in the closing minutes, scored the other Canadian goals, while Sean Maguire (Powell River, B.C./Powell River, BCHL) made 20 saves for the win between the pipes.

Radim Matus scored the lone goal for the Czechs, who will take on Russia in Saturday’s fifth-place game (noon PT) to close out their debut year.

Vasilevski has now faced 120 shots in almost 165 minutes of work in the tournament, and has been named Russia’s Player of the Game in both of his starts, posting a respectable .925 save percentage overall. Ilya Yamkin and Bogdan Yakimov scored the other goals for Russia, which will play in the fifth-place game (Saturday, 4 p.m. PT) for the second year in a row, taking on the loser of Thursday’s late quarter-final between Canada West and the Czech Republic.