Canada closes prelims with win

Canada has secured top spot in Group B following a decisive 11-3 win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship.

Gavin McKenna (two goals and four assists) and Porter Martone (1-4—5) combined for 11 points to lead the relentless Canadian attack. McKenna’s six points gives him 14 on the tournament, good for second place among all players, behind only Team USA’s James Hagens (7-9—16). Martone now has 13 points and sits in third place.

Despite the loss, Assanali Sarkenov had a game to remember, recording a hat trick for the Kazakhs.

Liam Greentree got things rolling for Canada at 5:01 of the first with a backhanded goal that beat Tanirkhan Alpysbayev. The Kazakhs answered back at 11:34 to briefly tie the game 1-1 on Sarkenov’s first of the game, a one-timer off a nice pass from Korney Korneyev.

Tij Iginla gave Canada the lead once again with his fourth goal of the tournament at 15:42 when he received a pass from Ryder Ritchie and snapped a wrister under the arm of Alpysbayev.

“I got a nice pass from Ryder on a bit of a fast-paced turnover and saw a little bit of daylight and thought I should just try and rip it and it just squeaked through the goalie, bottom right,” said Iginla. 

Canada made it 3-1 on a pretty tic-tac-toe play where Porter Martone fed the puck to Gavin McKenna, who one-touched a pass to Maxim Masse, who then one-timed the puck in. The goal made some heads spin on the Kazakh side as it happened so fast and the score was 3-1 Canada after 20.

Cole Beaudoin scooped up a loose puck during a flurry in front of the Kazakh goal and backhanded home a goal at 3:02 of the second period and then Henry Mews snapped a shot past Alpysbayev 90 seconds later and it was 5-1.

Caleb Desnoyers scored his first goal of the tournament at 7:40 of the second. McKenna got his first of the game midway through the frame after a nice pass from Martone and then a quick forehand-to-backhand move by McKenna.

The Kazakhs swapped goalies at that point, with Danil Lytkin coming on in relief of Alpysbayev, who faced 33 shots in half a hockey game, many of them high-danger chances.

The McKenna-Martone magic continued with Lytkin in net, when McKenna sent a nice pass through the crease to Martone, who easily put it into the Kazakh net at 16:18 of the second.

With the game result already clear, the highlight of the third period was a breakaway by Sarkenov with five minutes to play, as he beat Canadian goaltender Carter George for the hat trick goal….