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Canada wins the North American battle
Great comeback by Canada when they won the last game of 2008 and got the semi final bye in front of a record crowd in Ottawa.
Despite being down 0-3 Canada came back and won this conclusive game in group A 7-4 and qualified directly to the semi finals.
USA came out strong and after goals by Shattenkirk, Hayes and O'Brien they were up 3-0 already after 12:35. The Canadians came from three comfortable wins but now they had to fight hard for the victory.
Super star John Tavares gave the Maple Leafs some hope when he made it 1-3 at 14:55 and only 48 seconds later he added his second goal of the night. And with just less than minutes left to play of the first period the game was tied again.
Early in the second period Canada took the lead for the first time when Zach Boychuk scored on a rebound. But the Americans didn't gave up just beacuse they lost a 3-0 lead and managed to tie the game at four when Jonathan Blum scored a power play goal.
The goal that turned out to be the game winner was scored at 26:56 by Cody Hodgson. USA tried to came back again but some nice saves by Dustin Tokarski kept Canada in the lead.
In the last minute of the game Canada added two empty net goals to win the game in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. The attendance was 20,223, a new record for the World Juniors.
USA now will have to refocus for the quarter final against Slovakia where they will be huge favourites to win. Canada will play the winner between Russia and the Czech Republic in their semi final.
Canada - USA 7-4 (3-3,2-1,2-0)
0-1 (3:49) K Shattenkirk
0-2 (7:15) J Hayes (Palushaj, Tangradi) PP
0-3 (12:35) J O Brien (Shattenkirk, Bowman)
1-3 (14:55) J Tavares (Hodgson, Subban) PP
2-3 (15:43) J Tavares
3-3 (18:10) J Eberle (Hodgson, Subban)
4-3 (20:37) Z Boychuk (Hickey, di Domenico)
4-4 (23:40) J Blum (Schroeder, Fairchild) PP
5-4 (26:56) C Hodgson (Ellis, Subban) PP
6-4 (59:13) J Tavares (Esposito) ENG
7-4 (59:50) T Ennis (Kane) ENG
Shots: 29-27 (9-9,10-9,10-9)
PIM: 20-24
Full story here later...
Story added on 1st January 2009 at 13:44 GMT
Story submitted by: Fredrik Pålsson.
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