ONTARIO ROLLS INTO SEMIFINALS WITH THIRD WIN IN A ROW

TIMMINS, Ont. – The quest for the three-peat is still alive for Ontario at the 2010 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Garrett Meurs scored twice and Ryan Strome added a goal and an assist in Ontario’s 5-2 win over West on Saturday night, moving the two-time defending gold medalists into the semifinals, where they will face Russia. Sunday’s game will mark the first time the two teams have met in the medal round since 2000, when Russia beat the Canadian side 2-0 in Timmins for gold.

On Saturday, Meurs broke open a 1-1 tie with goals 5:02 apart in the latter half of the second period, and Ryan Murphy pushed the lead to three before the horn sounded to end the middle frame. Ben Thomson also scored for Ontario (3-1), which won its third straight after opening the tournament with a shocking 5-3 loss to Finland.

Boston Leier and Wilson Dumais scored the goals for West, which saw its semifinal dreams end before the puck even dropped after the early game in Kirkland Lake between Sweden and Quebec went to a shootout, meaning West could catch neither team, even with a win.

The loss drops West to fourth in Group A, and means it will travel to Iroquois Falls and face Atlantic in an all-Canadian battle for seventh place. It is a drop for the westerners, who finished fourth in 2009 after winning bronze one year earlier.