Game Notes: BOWDEN’S FOUR POINTS LEAD CANADA TO ROUT OF KOREA
JASON LA ROSE
LEDUC, Alta. – Brad Bowden (Orton, Ont.) scored twice and added two assists to pace the offence, and Canada’s National Sledge Team earned an 8-0 win over Korea in its opening game at the 2015 World Sledge Hockey Challenge on Sunday night.
Bowden opened and closed the scoring for the Canadians, who controlled the game from start to finish, converting a touchdown by the end of the second period and holding a 25-10 advantage in shots on goal.
Tyler McGregor (Forest, Ont.) also scored twice for Canada, while Adam Dixon (Midland, Ont.), Marc Dorion (Bourget, Ont.), Ben Delaney (Ottawa, Ont.) and Kevin Rempel (Vineland, Ont.) added one each.
Corbin Watson (Kingsville, Ont.) got the start in the Canadian goal and stopped all eight shots he faced before giving way to Dominic Larocque (Quebec City, Que.) to begin the third period.
Larocque, who made his debut between the pipes after four years as a forward, finished with two saves.
It was Korea that had the very early chance to open the scoring; Seung-Hwan Jung found himself all alone with Watson just 15 seconds after the puck dropped, but fired wide on the breakaway.
Bowden got the scoring started at 7:13, going under his sled before tucking the puck around Korean netminder Man-Gyun Yu, and Dixon snapped a shot past Yu just 28 seconds later for a quick 2-0 lead.
Dorion made it a three-goal lead late in the first period, driving to the net and redirecting a feed from Dixon past Yu.
The second period was much of the same, starting with Delaney banging in the rebound of a McGregor shot just 2:02 into the middle frame.
McGregor scored his first on the power play at 10:10, Rempel made it 6-0 from in close at 12:32 and McGregor got his second at 12:51 when his shot hit a Korean defender and bounced past Yu to send the Canadians to the dressing room up 7-0 after two.
Canada slowed the tempo in the third, directing only five shots at Yu, and Bowden’s second, on the power play at 9:08, capped the scoring.
The Canadians will look to keep their perfect start intact when they take on Russia on Monday night (7 p.m. MT), while Korea will be back on the ice at the Leduc Recreation Centre for the day’s matinee, meeting the United States (noon MT).
