Canada Fends off Korean Scare in Channel One Cup Opener

Canada began the Channel One Cup by narrowly beating South Korea 4-2 in their first ever match up at a men's ice hockey competition.

It took three minutes for Canada to take the 1-0 lead. Matt Frattin took advantage of terrible communication between Korean netminder Matt Dalton and one of his defenceman, with Frattin appearing out of nowhere and stealing the puck before backhanding it over an unsuspecting Matt Dalton to make it 1-0 at 2:58. 

At 5:01, the Koreans got a surprising goal. Sang Wook Kim would finish off a nice one-handed play off the rush from Ki-Sung Kim, who tapped in the puck to the left of Ben Scrivens to score their first ever goal against Canada to knot the battle at one apiece.

For the first time against one of the top nine hockey nations in IIHF men's action, South Korea found themselves in the lead. Sang Wook Kim would score again off of a shot from Mike Testwuide, using his position behind the Canadian defenders to re-direct one past Scrivens to give the Koreans the surprising 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Some penalty issues by the the Koreans midway through the second period saw Canada finally tie the game up. At 10:19, with Canadian-born Korean forward Brock Radunske sitting in the box, Marc-Andre Gragnani scored on a quick shot from the point, penetrating past Dalton to give Canada a bit of relief.

Korea played a bit more defensively in the second, but with Canada taking the 3-2 lead, they would change their style if they wanted to shock Canada. At 12:01, Matt Robinson's feed from centre ice made it down to Derek Roy. Roy waited and skated near the middle of the offensive zone before sending the disk to Wolski, who fired home his second of the night to give Canada the 3-2 lead.

A bit of controversy surrounded Canada's potential fourth goal. Linden Vey would direct the puck in off his hand while standing at the edge of the crease. The puck appeared to bounce off his stick, but after a five minute review, the original call of no goal would stick and the game would remain a one goal battle.

Dalton had to be spectacular to give his Korean team a chance in the game. He was the busiest player in the match, making 45 saves, including an incredible one on Matt Ellison with 12 minutes left in the game. In many games where the skill level is lopsided, the goaltending is what makes a lower-level team stay in the game, and that's what Dalton did on Wednesday. He put in the best performance he could, but an empty netter by Canada's Quinn Howden would give the Canadians the eventual 4-2 victory to take the first game of the Channel One Cup.

Canada will continue their journey for their second Channel One Cup tournament title when they continue their battle against the Czech Republic on Friday at 11:30 AM ET. Korea will play earlier in thge day, taking on Finland in hopes of securing a surprise victory.

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