For the first time since 2007, there will be an All-Canadian match-up at the World Junior A Challenge thanks to a pair of outstanding offensive performances from British Columbia Hockey League stars.
Westside Warriors forward and Nashville Predators draft pick Cam Reid scored the first hat trick by a Canada West player since 2007, and John Dunbar tied a WJAC record with four assists as the Canadians set up a semifinal date with Canada East (Friday, 7 p.m. AT) with a 7-3 win over Belarus on Thursday night.
The two Canadian teams have not met at the tournament since the 2007 gold medal game, won 4-1 by Canada East. The westerners also took the only other meeting, a 4-3 victory in the final game in 2006.
Both Canada West and Belarus came out firing in the opening period, and the end-to-end hockey produced five goals in a span of 6:05.
Reid opened the scoring for the Canadians, lifting a shot over the glove of Belarussian goaltender Stanislau Artynski. Just 38 seconds later, however, Raman Malinouski took advantage of a turnover at the Canadian blue line, beating Penticton Vees netminder Sean Bonar on the backhand to tie the game 1-1.
After Vernon Vipers forward Connor Jones has restored the Canada West lead at 12:42 he struck again 2:21 after that, deftly deflecting a shot from Cody Kunyk through the legs of Artynski. Belarus struck back quickly again, though, as Aliaksandr Famin shoveled a loose puck past Bonar after a scramble in the Canadian crease to again get the deficit back to just one.
Nursing a one-goal advantage heading into period two, the Canadians threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Belarus goal, with Reid’s second of the game 3:45 into the period chasing Artynski from the net.
The change didn’t seem to matter to Canada West, which outshot the Europeans 20-7 in the second period and went up 5-2 when Ben Gallacher’s seeing-eye point shot beat Dzmitry Volkau.
Siarhei Karolik got that one back for Belarus very late in the period, making it 5-3 after 40 minutes.
Canada West made sure there would be no drama in the third period, allowing just six Belarussian shots in the final frame and rounding out the scoring on goals from Reid, who joined Kyle Turris and Casey Pierro-Zabotel as Canada West players with WJAC hat tricks, and Ryan Marshall.
The loss puts Belarus in the fifth-place game for the third time in four tournament appearances. It will face Sweden on Saturday night (7 p.m. AT).
