Tyson Jost collected two assists, including the winner as Canada West defeated the U.S. 3-2 in the World Junior A Challenge.
Jost, captain of the Penticton Vees and Canada West, connected with teammate Liam Finlay of the Vernon Vipers at 3:02 of the third period to give Canada West a 3-1 lead in Cobourg, Ont. on Dec. 15.
With the win, Canada West completes the preliminary schedule with a 2-0 record and have advanced to Thursday’s semifinal at 4 p.m. PST.
In two games, Jost has a goal and four points, while teammate Dante Fabbro (8) has two assists. Among Jost’s points is a power-play goal and assist, while Fabbro has one assist on the power-play.
“I think just [the key to the win was] being hard on sticks, and hard on our bodies, getting shots towards the net, and getting into the dirty areas,” said Fabbro in a press release. “Our speed was big tonight, shutting down the neutral zone, and shutting down any opportunity they had offensively. The ‘D’ corps did a good job of doing that, and the forwards did an excellent job making plays and getting pucks to the net.”
“I was really impressed with the response after their first goal, to get back and get that 3-1 lead,” said Canada West coach Tim Fragile. “Disappointed we gave up another one, because it was loose coverage, but we felt like we limited a good team to only a few high-quality chances, which was good.”
Should Canada West win their semifinal match, they will advance to the gold medal game in the Cobourg Community Centre on Dec.19 at 1 p.m. PST and will be broadcast by TSN and RDS.
For more information on the 2015 World Junior A Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca/WJAC, or follow along via social media atFacebook.com/WJrAC or Twitter.com/HC_WJAC.
