Canada endured a very difficult end to the Ice Hockey World Championship preliminary tournament, losing 2-3 on penalties to Norway on Monday in Latvia.
It is the second setback in a row for head coach André Tourigny’s squad. She lowered her flag against Switzerland last Saturday. The Swiss team sits at the top of Group B and has dominated since the start of the competition, which is really not the case for Norway.
In fact, the Scandinavian nation had only managed one win in five games before meeting Canada. The Norwegians defeated Slovenia 1-0 last week, a team that has not won six times.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” Norwegian defender Johannes Johannesen told the IIHF website. I never thought I would beat Canada at a World Cup. This is a big win for us!”
A small point
It was Lawson Crouse who gave the Canadians a point against Norway. A few seconds before the end of regular time, the redhead accepted a great relay run from Michael Carcone and shot the puck into Jonas Arntzen’s net.
Canadian goalkeeper Joel Hofer made a couple of good saves in extra time. However, he was very generous in the shootout and yielded four times in five throws. His teammates were unable to do the same and defeat was inevitable.
“We have to get better,” Crouse said. All teams play very well defensively. We have to find a way to get more chances and get through. It’s a very short tournament.
Back quickly
Norway also scored the first two goals of that game. After a little more than 10 minutes of play in the first third, Andreas Martinsen brought the puck behind Hofer’s back. Whoever wore the Montreal Canadiens colors for nine games in 2016–2017 did so with a good wrist shot.
Sondre Olden doubled the winning lead right at the start of the second half. The 30-year-old veteran fired what appeared to be a harmless shot, but the puck was deflected off a Canadian player and crept past the goal line.
Milan Lucic reduced the deficit to half before the midfielder’s end. It was the Calgary Flames’ second goal of the competition.
Canada (3-1-1-1) concludes the group stage on Tuesday in a duel against the Czech Republic (4-0-1-1). This game will have a significant impact on the final Maple Leaf placement for the quarterfinals of the competition.
“We have to learn from what we didn’t do well today [lundi] and be ready for tomorrow [mardi], Crouse said. It will be a very big duel.”