After three days of competition, Canada’s sledge hockey team has a perfect 2-0 record.
In their first game of round-robin action, Team Canada faced Korea, a team they do not face often and that unfamiliarity can be a problem, national team member from Quesnel, James Gemmell, said.
“I’ve never seen Korea play, but we’re not underestimating anyone,” Gemmell said prior to leaving for Japan for the Four Nations Cup in Nagano.
Korea did put in a strong game, but Canada sidestepped them with a 3-1 win thanks to a strong powerplay that collected two of Canada’s three goals.
Canada followed up their victory over Korea with a 6-2 win over host Japan, a team that has given Canada trouble in the past, Gemmell said referring to a a 3-1 loss to Japan in the 2010 Paralympic Games that relegated Canada to the bronze-medal match.
The win over Japan marked Canada’s 12th straight win in international play, dating back to last year’s Four Nations Cup in Nagano.
After a scoreless first period, Canada scored all the goals they needed in the second period, going ahead 4-1, including a short-handed marker by Greg Westlake.
To close out round-robin action, Canada faced long-time nemesis Norway who looked for revenge following a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Team Canada at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Calgary last December.
“Norway is going to be our biggest competition,” Gemmell admitted.
“We manhandled them in Calgary.”
Canada met the challenge head on with a 7-0 win, limiting the Norwegians to just seven shots.
Semi final action goes Saturday and the gold-medal game Sunday.
With files from Hockey Canada.
