Canada West dominates Canada East at WJAC

Canada West took their first regulation victory of the 2018 World Junior A Challenge, dominating Canada East with a 6-1 win on Monday evening.

West came into the game as the favourites after beating the United States in a spirited shootout contest on Sunday. Canada East had a tough battle against Russia, but despite getting outshot 14-6 in the opening period, the looked like a much better team out of the gate on Monday. They were rewarded with the first goal of the game when Riley McCutcheon took a pass from John Beaton and skated down the ice, ripping a nice wrist shot past the blocker arm of Matthew Radomsky to open the scoring for the East.

Canada West would finally find a way to beat Liam Soulière early in the second. With Eastan Eckert in the box for tripping, Carter Berger and Luke Bast would show off their passing abilities on the power play, blasting a shot from the point to knot the contest up at one.

A pair of goals by Winnipeg Jets prospect Austin Wong put the West up by two goals after a tremendous middle frame for the squad. Thomas Caron would give the puck away at East's blueline, allowing Wong to pick it up. He'd then send it to Alex Newhook, who would set up Dylan Holloway before Wong eventually finished the deed, sending a nice wrist shot into the net for the 2-1 lead.

At 13:28, Wong would help intercept the puck in his own zone and engaged in the rush down the ice. He'd be the third forward into the offensive zone and that would work out for him as he would give the West a two-goal advantage.

Three minutes later, the West would score their second power-play goal of the game. Harrison Blaisdell would tip in a point shot from T.J. Lloyd, giving him his first goal of the game. Blaisdell would score a second goal in the third period after a bad giveaway by Trevor LeDonne in front of the net.  Ethan Leyh would convert on another giveaway by the East, breaking down the ice on a breakaway before beating Soulière on the five-hole, finishing off the game with a 6-1 victory for Canada West.

Both teams will have Tuesday off to regroup and prepare for the stretch run, with Canada East taking on the United States at 2:00 PM local time on Wednesday and Canada West challenging the Russians later that night.

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