MEURS, RITCHIE SCORE TWO APIECE AS ONTARIO WINS SEMIFINAL
TIMMINS, Ont. – Just one win stands between Ontario and an unprecedented three-peat at the World Under-17
Hockey Challenge – and it will be a familiar opponent across the ice when the puck drops on Monday night.
Garrett Meurs had his second consecutive two-goal game, Brett Ritchie added two of his own and Ontario
advanced to the gold medal game in Timmins thanks to a 6-4 semifinal win over Russia on Sunday night at
McIntyre Arena.
Ontario will face the United States for U17 supremacy on Monday, the same team it defeated, 3-0, in the
2008 gold medal game in front of more than 9,000 fans at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont.
No team has ever won three straight gold medals at full-field, 10-team events – in addition to its 1995
and 1997 titles, Ontario won gold in 1998, although it was a five-team tournament that year, part of a
two-tournament experiment that featured five teams each.
It took just 18 seconds for Ontario to ignite the pro-Canadian crowd of 1,530 at The Mac on Monday, thanks
to a goal off the stick of Meurs. The Russians answered just 62 seconds later thanks to Konstantin Vorshev,
and Anton Zlobin converted a shorthanded breakaway less than four minutes after that, giving Russia its first
lead at 2-1.
Ritchie notched his first of the game to tie it up before the first intermission, the first of four
unanswered goals from Ontario that put it ahead 5-2 in the first minute of the third period. Russia cut the
lead down to one with four-and-a-half minutes left, but Ritchie’s solo effort put the game out of reach
late.
Ryan Strome and Lucas Lessio also scored for Ontario, while Alexey Shamin and Albert Yarullin counted
goals for the Russians, who will play for their first medal since 2000 when they face Sweden on Monday
afternoon. | 
