Canada has a very difficult end to the preliminary tournament at the world championships of hockey and was advanced 3-2 in the penalty shootout by Norway on Monday in Latvia.
It is the second setback in a row for head coach André Tourigny’s team. She had lowered her flag towards Switzerland on Saturday. The Swiss team is at the top of Group B and has dominated since the start of the competition, which is not really the case for Norway.
In fact, the Scandinavian nation had managed just one win in five matches before they clashed with Canada. The Norwegians beat Slovenia 1-0 last week, a team that has not won on six occasions.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” Norwegian defender Johannes Johannesen told the IIHF website. I never imagined beating Canada at a World Cup. It’s a huge win for us!”
A small dot
It was Lawson Crouse who gave the Canadians a point against Norway. With a few seconds left in regular time, the redhead received a superb relay from Michael Carcone and put the puck into the top of Jonas Arntzen’s net.
In overtime, Canadian goalkeeper Joel Hofer made some good saves. However, he was very generous in the shootout, giving up four times on five shots. His teammates were unable to do the same and defeat became inevitable.
“We have to be better,” Crouse said. All the teams play so well defensively. We have to find a way to get more scoring chances and progress. It’s a very short tournament.”
Quick back
Norway also scored the first two goals in this match. After just over 10 minutes of play in the first period, Andreas Martinsen put the puck behind Hofer’s back. The one who wore the colors of the Montreal Canadiens for nine games in 2016-2017 did so with a nice wrist shot.
Sondre Olden doubled the winners’ lead in the opening moments of the second half. The 30-year-old veteran fired a seemingly harmless shot, but the puck deflected off a Canada player and snuck behind the goal line.
Milan Lucic halved the gap before the end of the midfielder. It was the Calgary Flames’ second goal of the contest.
Canada (3-1-1-1) concludes the group stage on Tuesday in a duel against the Czech Republic (4-0-1-1). This match will have a significant impact on the final Maple Leafs standings for the quarter-finals 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 matchup.”
