2017 World Sledge Hockey Challenge

BIG SECOND PERIOD HELPS CANADA TO WIN OVER KOREA

JASON LA ROSE

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Greg Westlake (Oakville, Ont.) and Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.) had four points apiece in a busy second period, and Canada’s National Sledge Team stayed unbeaten at the 2017 World Sledge Hockey Challenge with a 9-3 win over Korea on Monday night.

Canada outshot the Koreans 32-10 in the victory, which sets up a first-place showdown against the United States in the preliminary-round finale on Wednesday night (7 p.m. AT).

It was the Paralympic hosts who found the scoreboard first; Young Sung Kim jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat Canadian goaltender Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) to the far side just 1:45 after the puck dropped.

Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.) got Canada even at 9:27, rifling a shot past Korean netminder Jae Woong Lee from between the hashmarks to send the game to the intermission even 1-1.

The floodgates opened the second period with seven goals, six from the Canadians.

Westlake put the red-and-white up for the first time at 5:24 after McGregor jumped on an offensive-zone turnover, and slipped a shorthanded goal under Lee just 58 seconds after that for a two-goal advantage.

Seung Hwan Jung answered back for Korea on the same power play, but McGregor needed only 42 seconds to go to his left hand and restore the multi-goal lead.

Bowden got his second a minute after that with an unassisted effort, McGregor roofed a cross-ice feed from Westlake at 10:32 and Dominic Cozzolino (Mississauga, Ont.) tapped in a pass from Liam Hickey (St. John’s, N.L.) at the edge of the crease to make it 7-2 after two.

In all, the teams combined for seven goals in five minutes and 28 seconds in the middle frame.

Westlake and McGregor became just the sixth and seventh players to record at least four points in a period, and the third on Monday; U.S. forward Jack Wallace turned the trick earlier in the day.

James Dunn (Wallacetown, Ont.) scored his first Team Canada goal in the third period before Cozzolino netted his second of the game with less than five minutes to go.

Min Su Han added a consolation goal for on the power play for Korea in the dying seconds to cap the scoring.

The Koreans will close out their preliminary round against Italy in a battle of winless teams on Wednesday afternoon (12 p.m. AT).