2016-17 National Sledge Team

CANADA SHUT OUT AGAIN IN SLEDGE DEVELOPMENT SERIES

JASON LA ROSE

MONTREAL, Que. – Nicolas Côté (Hébertville, Que.) finished with 10 saves in his international debut, but Canada’s National Sledge Development Team continued its offensive power outage in a 7-0 loss to the United States at the Défi sportif AlterGo on Saturday night.

The Canadians have dropped the first two games in the three-game series.

The U.S. struck early and late in the first period, with Kyle Zych opening the scoring just 1:40 in before Josh Hargis converted on a power play with 41 seconds left in the opening frame.

Zych added a second goal six minutes into the second period, before Robert Easley made it 4-0 with less than two minutes to go in the middle stanza. The Americans had as many goals as the Canadians had shots through 30 minutes.

Côté was at his busiest in the third period, making four saves, but the Americans added three more goals.

David Eustace had a pair in the period, sandwiched around the hat-trick marker from Zych, providing the final margin of victory for the U.S.

Eustace added three assists for a five-point night, while Griffin LaMarre posted the six-save shutout.

The North American rivals finish the series Sunday morning (10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT) at Aréna Howie-Morenz.

The Défi sportif AlterGo is an international event that brings together elite and up-coming athletes with all types of disabilities. Each year, more than 5,000 athletes from 20 countries compete during seven days in Montreal and on the South-Shore.