TRURO, N.S. – A quarter-final game at the World Junior A Hockey Challenge will feature an all-Canadian matchup on Wednesday.
Canada East meets Canada West at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre at 7:30 p.m.
The other quarter-final game on Wednesday will be played between Switzerland and the United States at 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Jack Dugan tapped home a loose puck with 33 seconds remaining in the third period to lift the U.S. to a 2-1 victory over Canada West in a highly entertaining game at the RECC.
After a fast-paced and physical scoreless first period, the Americans got on the board at 3:03 of the second when a Clayton Phillips shot banked off the skate of Graham Slaggert and right to Cole Guttman, who beat Canada West goaltender Zach Rose for a 1-0 lead.
The advantage lasted just 35 seconds, as Ross Armour finished a beautiful cross-ice feed from Angus Crookshank to pull the Canadians even.
Rose and American counterpart Jake Kucharski took over from there, going save for save for close to 36 minutes until Dugan won it for the U.S.
“I thought we played great. The effort was there, we played the Canadian Way, which is something we preached to our guys going into tonight’s game,” said Canada West head coach Mike Reagan. “(We wanted) to make sure we made it tough on the Americans, and I thought we did that. It was a great game from both ends. If you’re a fan, you’re pretty happy with that game to watch.”
