2018-19 National Men's Team

CANADA SCORES DRAMATIC WIN OVER SWISS IN QUARTER-FINALS

QUINTON AMUNDSON

KOSICE, Slovakia – Damon Severson (Melville, Sask./New Jersey, NHL) tied the game with 0.4 seconds left and Mark Stone (Winnipeg, Man./Vegas, NHL) won it 5:07 into overtime, leading Canada’s National Men’s Team to a 3-2 victory over Switzerland in the quarter-finals Thursday at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.

Canada is in the semifinals for the fifth straight year. It will find out its Saturday opponent after the conclusion of the later quarter-final clashes.

Stone was in on all three goals, finishing with two goals and an assist. He sent his Canadian teammates flying off the bench in jubilant celebration after he extended his stick to redirect in a pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que./Columbus, NHL) on an odd-man break.

Severson created the opportunity for Stone’s heroic moment with a game-tying goal that will become an instant classic for Canadian hockey fans.

With Switzerland up 2-1 and Canadian goaltender Matt Murray (Thunder Bay, Ont./Pittsburgh, NHL) on the bench, Canada unleashed a gale force of pressure in the attacking zone in a bid to keep its tournament alive.

After a Swiss forward blocked his first attempt, Severson hammered a shot from just inside the blue-line that deflected off the blocker and pad of Swiss netminder Leonardo Genoni and slipped across the goal-line with less than a second to go.

Murray made 22 saves to earn the win, while Genoni shone in a losing effort with 39 stops.

Despite Canada earning a 12-5 edge in shots in the first frame, Sven Andrighetto opened the scoring for Switzerland with a hard drive from the left point that connected for a power-play tally with 1:54 to play before the intermission.

Stone pulled Canada back into a tie less than six minutes into the second period, executing a precise tip of a Dante Fabbro (Coquitlam, B.C./Nashville, NHL) wrist shot from the blue-line.

Nico Hischier pounced on a rebound with 3.8 seconds left in the second period to give Switzerland a second power-play goal and a 2-1 lead that stood until the very last second.