ONTARIO STILL PERFECT AFTER BLANKING SLOVAKS

by Ashley Wiebe

WINNIPEG, Man. – Ontario continued its winning ways at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge onThursday night, shutting out Slovakia 5-0 to move to 2-0 and remained tied with Pacific at the top of Group B.

Mathew Campagna, Chris Marchese, Kerby Rychel, Sean Monahan and Scott Laughton scored the goals for Ontario, which remained on track to make the semifinals for the fourth tournament in a row.

Campagna scored the lone goal of the first period, with assists going to Marchese and Jesse Graham.

The second period was all Ontario, as they outshot the Finns 17-2 and jumped into a commanding lead thanks to goals from Marchese, Rychel and Monahan. Marchese finished the period, and the game, with a goal and an assist, giving him five points in two games, tying him for the tournament scoring lead.

Laughton, with assists to Jesse Graham – who finished with three helpers – and Slater Koekkoek, rounded out the scoring in the third period.

Daniel Altshuller, who made more than half of his 15 saves in the first period, picked up Player of the Game honours for Ontario, while Slovak forward Matej Paulovic was his team’s recipient.

Ontario will look to make it three in a row when it kicks off 2011 against West on New Year’s Day in Winnipeg (7 p.m. CT), while the Slovaks get back to action Friday against Pacific in Portage la Prairie (3 p.m. CT).