Canada West Wins 2017 World Junior A Challenge In Nova Scotia

Canada has won the 2017 World Junior A Challenge from Truro, Nova Scotia after a 5-1 win over the United States on Saturday afternoon.

In search of their fifth tournament title, Canada West escaped the first period with two goals to get the Americans on their heels. At 9:06 while shorthanded, Levi Kleiboer sent a long pass down the middle to Brendan Budy at center ice, with Budy heading in all alone shorthanded. He made no mistake with the wrist shot, beating Jake Kucharski low blocker side to make it 1-0 before the period hit the ten minute mark.

Then, at 12:36, Canada scored again. It was a pretty goal with Evan De Jong and Angus Crookshank making some moves on the give-and-go, but it would be Crookshank finishing off the play to the right of the American net as Canada would take a 2-0 advantage into the first intermission.

Kucharski was one of the best goalies the entire tournament, including when USA beat Canada West in the final round robin game earlier in the week. But his night was over with 28 minutes still left in the game after allowing his third goal on just 12 shots. Corey Andonovski would score for Canada after pulling the puck around American defenseman Christian Krygier and sending a wrist shot below Crookshank

The Americans needed a spark if they wanted their eighth tournament title and second in a row. With under six minutes left to go in the second period, Jack Drury, son of Ted and nephew of Chris, picked up his own rebound after a couple of scoring chances on Zach Rose, finally putting the Americans on the board. 

Canada began to walk away with the game in the third period, securing the gold medal in the process. At 6:36, Crookshank gave Ross Armour a pass that new American goalie Ryan Bischel couldn't do anything about, giving Canada their three goal lead again. 32 seconds after that,Carter Turnbull, in his third tournament with Canada West, set up Dylan Holloway, who one-timed it from the high slot past Bischel to make it 5-1 for Canada.

The win would give Canada West their fifth tournament championship in 12 tries, with the west being the only Canadian team to win a championship of the two. For USA, it was their first loss in the gold medal game, but they have still managed to get a medal in all 11 tournaments they've participated in.

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