Quesnel defenceman James Gemmell and Canada’s Para Hockey Team earned a berth to the gold-medal game after its fourth consecutive shutout of the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
They knocked off Korea 7-0 semifinal at the Gangneung Hockey Centre yesterday afternoon.
Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.) led the way with two goals and a pair of assists, while Billy Bridges (Summerside, P.E.I.) also scored twice.
• Dominic Cozzolino (Mississauga, Ont.), Liam Hickey (St. John’s, N.L.) and Greg Westlake (Toronto) added singles.
• Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) got the start in goal and only had to make one save through two periods, before Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) played the third and shut the door.
Going into the semifinals Gemmell and the Canadians had not given up a goal at PyeongChang 2018, while scoring 35 markers in their three shutout victories.
South Korea had a 3-1 record during the preliminary rounds, defeating Japan and Czech Republic, but being shut out 8-0 by the United States.
Canada’s win puts it in its first gold-medal game since Torino in 2006, when it won the tournament.
“We had some chances early and finally we got the first one and that seemed to get us going more,” said Team Canada head coach Ken Babey.
“I thought our best period of the whole game was our first period and that set the stage for the rest of the game.”
The second semifinal will feature the United States, which had shutout victories against Japan, Czech Republic and Korea in the preliminary round, going up against Italy – 2-1, with wins against Norway and Sweden and a shutout loss to the U.S.
Many people would wager Canada will face the U.S in the gold-medal at 8 p.m. PDT on March 17.
