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Hunt, Team Canada advance to Hlinka Gretzky Cup final after shootout win over Sweden

Warrior import draft pick Wallstedt impressive against powerhouse Canadian line-up
After rolling through the round robin with minimum challenge, it looked as if Team Canada might be on their way to a cruise-control gold medal at the Hlinka Gretzky World Under-18 Championship.

But Team Sweden – and more specifically, Moose Jaw Warriors import draft pick Jesper Wallstedt – saw to it Canada’s trip to the final would be a battle right to the end.

Wallstedt turned aside 41 shots in regulation and overtime and then stopped five of eight shootout attempts before Saginaw’s Cole Perfetti scored the eventual game winner to give Canada a 3-2 victory.

That sent Team Canada and Warriors defenceman Daemon Hunt into the championship final Saturday against Russia, who took a 4-1 win over Finland in the other semifinal in Piestany, Slovakia.

Daniel Ljungman scored the game’s opening goal on the power play 8:29 into the first period, with that marker giving Sweden a 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

Perfetti took over from there, scoring 35 seconds into the second period and after Hugo Styf gave Sweden a 2-1 lead three minutes later, added his second of the game with five minutes left in the second.

The shootout saw each team score once on the first 10 shots before Perfetti and Ljungman went head-to-head over the next seven attempts. Each player added one more goal before Perfetti beat Wallstedt on shot 15 and Saginaw’s Tristan Lennox stopped Ljungman to close out the win.

Hunt was held without a point in the contest.

Perfetti now has seven goals and nine points over Canada’s four games to lead the team in scoring, with linemate Hendrix Lapierre scoring three times and adding six assists.

 

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