CANADA FALLS IN SHOOTOUT IN SLEDGE DEVELOPMENT SERIES FINALE

LONDON, Ont. – Dominic Cozzolino (Mississauga, Ont.) opened the scoring, but Canada’s National Sledge Development Team dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to the United States in Friday night’s series finale.

The Americans won all three games at the Western Fair Sports Centre, earning a 2-1 overtime win in the opener on Wednesday before a 3-1 victory on Thursday.

Brendan Blanchard (Chatham, Ont.) and Chris Cedarstrand (Okotoks, Alta.) both scored in the shootout for the Canadians, but goals from all three American shooters were enough for the win.

After waiting until the third period of each of the first two games to score a goal, the Canadians got on the scoreboard first in the finale, with Cozzolino doing the honours unassisted just past the 11-minute mark of the opening frame.

But the U.S. wasted no time pulling even once the puck dropped to start the second period, with Dan McDevitt making it a 1-1 game at 1:15.

That would be it for goal-scoring in regulation time and overtime, despite the Canadians holding a 16-15 advantage in shots on goal through 50 minutes of play.

The offence came alive for both teams in the shootout, with the first five shooters finding the back of the net – Blanchard and Cedarstrand beat U.S. goaltender Kyle Huckaby, while Billy Manning, Chris Douglas and Josh Misiewicz put the puck past Canadian netminder Dustan Hamar (Edmonton, Alta.).

Mathieu Trudeau (Candiac, Que.) was the last hope for the Canadians, but Huckaby turned him away to seal the victory for the U.S.