CANADA IMPROVES TO 3-0 IN PRELIMINARY ROUND WITH A 10-1 SHOW OVER NORWAY

Brittney McCutcheon – BuffaloWorldJuniors.com / 12/30/2010

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Brayden Schenn continues to dominate the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship as the leading scorer with four goals and an assist in a 10-1 victory over Norway. Schenn carried two goals and five assists heading into tonight’s contest and finishes three games with 12 points.

Canada wasted no time putting goals on the scoreboard as Brett Connolly capitalized on a Norway turnover and made a quick pass to Casey Cizikas who tapped in the first goal of the night less than two minutes into the frame. 

The Canadian’s second goal was scored as Ryan Johansen skated behind the net and made a cross-crease pass to a wide open Schenn who was planted in front of the net. Schenn fanned on his first shot, but made contact with the back of the net on his second effort. 

Erik Gudbranson, Louis Leblanc and Marcus Foligno all added goals for Team Canada before the end of the first period. Schenn also notched his second goal of the game before the twenty minute mark.

Norway’s Rasmus Juell, who leads the team in shots on goal, finally slipped his first goal of the tournament in. Canada’s goaltender Mark Visentin fumbled with Juell’s shot and the puck slid between his legs for a 6-1 score to end the period.

Canada showed no signs of slowing down to start the second as Schenn streaked down the left wing and put a shot past Lars Volden, earning a hat trick in just 21 minutes of play. Volden replaced Steffan Soberg who pulled himself after Canada’s fifth goal. Soberg was not disappointed by his team’s play, noting that “It’s a great experience for us to be in these kind of games,” Soberg said. 

Team Norway continued their solid penalty kill efforts, shutting Team Canada’s number one power-play unit down on two opportunities in the second period. Norway leads the tournament in penalty kills and has fought off ten penalties in three games without allowing a single goal. 

Norway’s defensive play grew stronger as the game progressed, limiting Canada to just one goal in over 35 minutes after allowing six goals against in the first period alone.

Canadian captain Ryan Ellis noted Norway’s defense, “They played well and held us back for a while there.”

Schenn scored his fourth goal of the evening after Tyson Barrie fired a shot at Volden. Volden stopped the initial shot but Schenn was headed hard to the net and buried the rebound.

Sean Couturier and Gudbranson finished off the evening with two goals in the final minute to seal Canada’s victory at 10-1. Gudbranson scored two goals and added an assist in tonight’s contest to win player of the game. 

Another key player in the match was Ellis with 1 goal and 3 assists tonight for a three-game total of 3 goals and 6 assists. After tonight’s contest, Ellis takes the title as all-time leading scorer among defensemen in the World Junior tournaments. Ellis beamed, “That’s pretty awesome, I think that’s something for after your career you enjoy, we’ll see how long that holds up, but that’s pretty cool.”

Norway takes on Russia at 7 p.m. tomorrow evening at Dwyer Arena, while Canada takes tomorrow to rest before tackling Sweden on Friday Dec. 31 for a 4 p.m. showdown. 

GROUP A