GAME STATISTICS | LIVE GAME BLOG

RED DEER, Alta. – Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team remained perfect at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup with a 3-0 win over Sweden on Wednesday, solidifying a spot in Friday’s semi-final vs Finland.

• Calum Ritchie (Oakville, Ont./ Oshawa, OHL) opened the scoring for Canada and added an assist for a two-point night.
• Brayden Yager (Saskatoon, Sask./ Moose Jaw, WHL) scored and added an assist to move into the tournament lead in scoring with nine points.
• Zach Benson (Chilliwack, B.C./ Winnipeg, WHL) scored his second of the tournament.
• Mathieu Cataford (Saint-Constant, Que./ Halifax, QMJHL), Andrew Cristall (Burnaby, B.C./ Kelowna, WHL) Ethan Gauthier (Drummondville, Que. / Sherbrooke, QMJHL) and Dylan MacKinnon (Riverview, N.B./ Halifax, QMJHL) contributed with assists.
• Scott Ratzlaff (Irma, Alta./ Seattle, WHL) made 18 saves for the shutout.
• Canada outshot Sweden 43-18.

Other Scores

• Czechia 3, United States 1 (Game Stats)
• Slovakia 3, Switzerland 2 (OT) (Game Stats)

Next Games – Friday, August 5

• 7th Place - Switzerland vs. Germany (10:30 a.m. MT)
• 5th Place - United States vs. Slovakia (1:30 p.m. MT)
• Semifinal - Canada vs. Finland (5 p.m. MT)
• Semifinal - Czechia vs. Sweden (8:30 p.m. MT)

TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will broadcast all Team Canada games from the Peavey Mart Centrium; please check local listings for details.

Full tournament information, including scores, stats, stories and more, is available at HlinkaGretzkyCup.ca.

Quotes

“Tonight, was a big challenge for us. This was a physical game, and we had to earn it. We blocked some shots and I felt that as the game went on, we got more pucks to the net and a bigger net front presence. I’m very happy for this group and I’m proud of the work ethic we showed.”
- Head coach Stéphane Julien (Shawinigan, Que./ Sherbrooke, QMJHL) on the win

“We battled hard tonight. Sweden gave us the toughest test of the tournament so far and I think we responded well. We played hard, blocked some shots, (Scott) Ratzlaff was excellent and we’re looking forward to the semifinals.”
- Ritchie on the win

“We did a great job tonight. Sweden is a good team and we had to earn this one. We played a full sixty minutes; our goalie played a heck of a game, and our penalty killers didn’t give up anything. When your kill is as good as ours was tonight, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
- Yager on the defensive effort

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow through social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.