Sillinger’s two goals not enough for Canada White, falling to Canada Black in OT

The Medicine Hat Tigers rookie brought the hometown crowd to their feet with a tap-in goal midway through the first period and later beat the second intermission buzzer and Canada Black netminder Benjamin Gaudreau.

“It’s exciting to play in my own building, I think it’s an advantage to me,” said Sillinger. “I’m comfortable with the rink, maybe have a little bit extra fans behind my back which is nice.”

Canada White’s Brett Harrison recorded the first goal of the tournament seven minutes into the first period, finishing off a pass by 2022 NHL Draft top prospect Matthew Savoie.

Their lead didn’t hold for long though, with Canada Black’s 15-year-old captain Shane Wright ripping a shot from the slot on the man advantage to tie up the game less than two minutes later.

Following some wizardry with the puck by Oscar Plandowski for Canada White, a loose puck in the crease was picked up by Sillinger with 9:03 remaining in the first to pull his side back ahead.

“I kind of zoned out a little bit and didn’t really hear the crowd,” said Sillinger. “I know my teammates were giving me a pat on the back with a little extra fan base behind me. So, it’s nice to have that.”

Canada White’s 2-1 lead stretched well into the second period, when Mason McTavish of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes took the night over for a short period.

McTavish was able to bury a rebound off a point shot on the power play 7:14 into the middle frame, before executing a perfect toe-drag snipe just a few minutes later for his second goal of the night.

Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

Trailing by a 4-1 count, Canada Black head coach Jody Hull elected to switch out his goaltenders with William Blackburn entering the contest.

The change between the pipes seemed to spark Canada Black with Dean finishing off a beautiful no-look pass from behind the net by Ryan Winterton to make it a two-goal contest.

Near the end of the second, Brennan Othmann was able to sneak a puck past a sprawling Tyler Brennan in the Canada White net to get Canada Black to within a single goal.

Off the ensuing face-off at centre ice though, a Canada White passing play was finished off by Sillinger just eight seconds after Othmann’s marker to make it a 5-3 game again to a cheering Canalta Centre crowd.

“You want to represent Medicine Hat well and the organization with the Tigers,” said Sillinger. “Wearing the maple leaf in my own junior place is nice.”

Canada Black wasn’t ready to back down however, with Wright batting a loose puck out of mid-air past Brennan for his second goal of the night to cut the deficit to one with 8:27 remaining in the third.

Wright, who joined stars like Connor McDavid and John Tavares by earning exceptional player status in the OHL, completed the hat-trick with 3:19 left in regulation by burying a shot on a breakaway to send this game into overtime.

Dean needed just 52 seconds to cap off the Canada Black comeback, holding the puck along the wall before going to the backhand while falling to the ice and roofing it on Brennan for the game-winner.

Entering the game in relief of Gaudreau, Blackburn stopped 15 of the 16 shots he saw to earn the victory for Canada Black with Gaudreau allowing four goals on 12 shots Saturday.

“Our goalies stood back there and stopped some pucks,” said Wright. “Our defence played strong on the back end getting pucks out.”

As for Brennan, he allowed six goals on 30 shots against in his first game of the tournament.

Savoie said he was happy with the way his new teammates battled against another Canadian squad with similar systems.

“Canada versus Canada it’s always emotional,” said Savoie. “Playing your own country, you don’t know what you’re expecting. So, I think it was a good game out there and a hard-fought battle by both teams.”

Wright was named Canada Black’s player of the game with three goals and one assist, while McTavish took player of the game honours for Canada White with his two goals.

“As the tournament moves on we’re going to get stronger as a team, stronger as a group,” said Wright. “We’re only going to get better from here.”

Both Canadian squads are off on Sunday, with Canada Black looking to improve to 1-1-0-0 on Monday afternoon at 1:00 pm against the Czech Republic and Canada White searching for their first win at 7:00 pm versus the United States.

Stankoven in Swift Current

Photo courtesy of Hockey Canada / Twitter

Out east, it was Kamloops Blazers rookie Logan Stankoven putting on a show in the first game of Group ‘B’ action, with Canada Red (1-0-0-0) skating past Team Russia (0-0-1-0) 4-3.

Stankoven scored a pair of goals 2:19 apart in the second period, helping drive Canada Red to their first victory over the World Under-17 Hockey Championships.

After a scoreless opening period, Stankoven’s goals gave Canada Red a 2-0 advantage which was added upon by Conner Roulette’s first of the tournament for a three-goal lead.

Following a goalie change, the Russians were able to make it a 3-2 game with goals from Matvei Nadvorniy and Aleksei Prokopenko.

Canada Red’s Dovar Tinling scored the eventual game-winner 6:12 into the third period, as the Canadians were able to weather a Daniil Lazutin goal midway through the frame and hold on for the three points.

Thomas Milic had a solid night with 28 saves on 31 shots, while Valerii Brinkman was stellar in relief of Pavel Kanaev with 19 saves on 20 shots for Russia.

Canada Red will do battle with Sweden at the Innovation Credit Union iPlex on Monday at 7:00 pm, which will follow the early game at 1:00 pm between Russia and Finland.

Sunday’s slate of World Under-17 Hockey Championships games will see the United States and Czech Republic squaring off in Medicine Hat, while Sweden and Finland will renew their rivalry in Swift Current.

Both games are 3:00 pm puck drops.

by Scott Roblin

Sillinger’s two goals not enough for Canada White, falling to Canada Black in OT

Stankoven in Swift Current

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