CANADA EAST OVERCOMES SLOW START, TOPS GERMANY

CAMROSE, AB – It only took 49 seconds to make Canada East fans nervous. Fortunately, the other 59:11 went a little more to plan.

David Wolf opened the scoring less than a minute after the opening face-off but Canada East took over from there, scoring a 6-3 win over Germany on Monday night in the first game for both at the 2008 World Junior A Challenge.

One night after watching Canada West get upset by Belarus in the tournament opener, those in attendance at the Edgeworth Centre had a moment of déjà vu when Wolf put his own rebound past Hare early on to give the Germans an early lead.

But Brandon Pirri snapped a shot over the glove of German netminder Max Englbrecht less than four minutes later, and Marty O’Grady and Jacob Laliberte – on a penalty shot – scored in the latter half of the period to send the 2006 and 2007 silver medalists to the dressing up by a pair.

Outshot 6-5 in the early going, Canada East rattled off the period’s final 11 shots to take a 16-6 advantage after 20 minutes. It outshot Germany 34-25 overall.

With the Canadians pressing for a fourth goal early in the second period Englbrecht stood tall, keeping the offence at bay until David Pacan found space between the German’s pads on a wraparound with just over five minutes to go in the frame, making it a three-goal game through two periods.

Germany’s Toni Ritter, with the teams playing four-on-four, cut the Canada East lead to two early in the third period, but goals from Pirri, his second of the game, and Zach Hervato put the game out of reach.

Martin Hinterstocker rounded out the scoring late for Germany with less than five minutes to go.

Pirri added an assist to finish with a three-point night, while O’Grady and Laliberte had a goal and assist apiece in the victory.

Germany is right back to action on Tuesday afternoon, facing the United States at 4 p.m. MST, while Canada East will take on the Americans in Wednesday’s lone game, with the face-off set for 8 p.m. MST in that one.