Lightning prospects have big impact in WJC semifinals

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
January 4, 2017

The tension was palpable. Canada, playing an international hockey tournament on home soil, simply is not allowed to lose.

It’s a thought that can keep a group of teenage hockey players up at night.

About eight minutes in to Canada’s semifinal meeting with Sweden on Wednesday at Bell Centre in Montreal, that reality was staring the group of Canadian teenagers square in the face.

For goaltender Connor Ingram, it was a nightmare scenario.{mprestriction ids=”1,2″} The Lightning prospect, drafted in the third round of the 2016 draft, fell under the weight of expectations, allowing two goals on three shots and being replaced by Carter Hart at the 8:05 mark of the first period.

Ingram let in a wrist shot from the top of the right circle for a shorthanded goal 6:05 in to the game.

Fellow Lightning prospect Mitchell Stephens would pull Canada even at the 7:43 mark, smacking in a loose puck from the crease put in his path from Anthony Cirelli. But just 22 seconds later, Ingram misread a play, made an ill-advised poke check and let a Carl Grundstrum shot squeak through his pads to put Canada behind again.

That ended the night for Ingram, but it also fired up Canada, which did not crumble under the weight of expectations. They kept pushing as Hart came in and provided a spark. Finally, late in the first period, Cirelli tied the game with his third goal of the tournament, ripping a wrist shot from the left circle with 1:11 left during 4-on-4 play.

Canada would go on to take the lead on a Julien Gauthier goal midway through the second period before Dylan Strome provided a two-goal cushion early in the third to set up a gold medal match against the U.S., which beat Russia 4-3 in a shootout, on Thursday at 8 p.m. NHL Network

At the conclusion of the game, the top three players of the tournament for Canada were named, with Cirelli taking one of the honors, as a shutdown center, faceoff specialist and offensive contributor with three goals and six points.

Taylor Raddysh, who had a four-goal game earlier in the tournament, had four shots on goal in 16:32 of ice time. Mathieu Joseph played 13:48.

Full game highlights from IIHF

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