The crowd was loud to start the New Year’s Eve battle between Canada and the United States at Canadian Tire Centre. At stake was top spot in Group A and the best matchup for the quarter-finals that begin on Thursday, January 2, but also pride for the teams in the greatest international rivalry in hockey.
It was clear how much the teams wanted to win, or perhaps how much they didn’t want to lose, and they came out with a lot of energy to start, trying to keep the puck in each other’s zone. The defences were allowing much of that energy to be channeled into shots on goal. With how prolific Team USA’;s offence has proven to be, that probably suited the home Canadians just fine.
The best early chance came as Cole Hutson fought through a Caden Price to earn himself an open lane to the net. The defenceman beat Carter George with his shot, but it clanged off the goal post and out.
At 12:20 of the opening period, it was another charging American player getting the better of a Canadian defenceman as Sam Dickinson went off for tripping. Hutson put himself in the spotlight once more by ripping a shot from the high slot, putting Team USA up 1-0 on the power play.
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Canada desperately tried to get the game back on even terms the only way they know how: brute-force the puck into the net. It led to contact on U.s. goaltender Trey Augustine, and coincidental minors from the scrum that ensued.
Although Canada outshot the United States 11-5 in the opening period, Team USA had the better chances, including a couple of post, and the all-important opening goal.
Canada came out of the intermission with a nice rush down the win that required a save from Augustine. Canada ended the shift with three much-less-dangerous shots from the blue line with no screen in front.
A chance came for Canada on a holding call to Team USA. they were able to work the puck to the slot on a couple of occasions, and they decided to keep trying to get the puck there once the game had returned to five-on-five, looking dangerous at the top of the crease, but still not dangerous enough to tie the game.
As Canada was piling on the momentum and forcing Augustine into more and more difficult saves, Carson Rehkopf decided to mess with the American goalie by shooting his loose stick away from the net, and was sent to the box for interference. Suddenly it was Carter George’s turn to make some critical saves, needing to be sharp to keep his team just one goal down.
Canada spent four more minutes on the penalty kill afterward, tilting the ice to the Canadian zone after the opening half of the period was played in the Americans’ despite great chances for both teams, no goals were scored, leaving the game at 1-0 USA after 40 minutes.
After the string of Canadian penalties, the officials handed one to U.S. captain Ryan Leonard after the second period had ended. It proved to be a costly one for he team, because Bradly Nadeau scored just as it was about to expire to the tie the game on Canada’s 28th shot of the period.
As they had in the second period, Canada halted its own momentum with a bad penalty, a cross-check from Sawyer Mynio right in front of his net. Danny Nelson added a second power-play goal for his team to restore the one-goal lead.
Gavin McKenna came close to tying the game just after a Canadian power expired, but the shot hit the post and stayed out.
Tanner Molendyk had to hook the hands of Brandon Svoboda as he blew through Canada’s defensive coverage for an open look Leonard hit the post in search of his team’s third power-play goal of the game and a near insurmountable lead, but that was as close the Americans came on their advantage. On its next power play, however, they made Canada pay for its indiscipline. With Easton Cowan in the box for a hit into board well after Aram Minnetian had dumped the puck, Cole Eiserman made it 3-1 with just under seven minutes to play.
Canada tested Augustine several time in the next four minutes, but Luca Pinelli was dinged for an elbow with three minutes to play. The Canadians were bailed out from having to play most of the remainder of the game on the PK by a delay of game penalty from Team USA’s coaching staff, returning the game to a five-on-five situation.
The Americans iced the game with an empty-netter to make it a 4-1 final. Team USA secured Group A for a meeting with Switzerland in the quarter-finals. Canada was forced settle for third, and a difficult matchup with Czechia, the team that knocked them out in the quarters at the 2024 event.
