Canada too much for Great Britain, moves to 2-0 at FISU Winter Universiade

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (U SPORTS) – Guillaume Asselin of Quebec City and Michael McNamee of Perth, Ont., tallied four points apiece as the Canadian men's hockey team dominated Great Britain 14-0 on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 2-0 at the 28^th Winter Universiade tournament.

The result sets up a battle for first place Friday at 12:30 p.m. local (1:30 a.m. EST) when the Ontario University Athletics all-stars face undefeated Slovakia (2-0) in their final game of the preliminary round in Group B. The contest will be streamed live on www.livefisu.tv/.  

Ten different players scored for Canada, which led 6-0 after the opening period and 9-0 after 40 minutes. Shots on goal were 74-9, including a 29-3 advantage in the first frame, 14-4 in the second and 31-2 in the third.

The Canadian power play was lethal, converting four of six opportunities, while the British went 0-for-7 with the man advantage. 

Asselin, a sniper from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, scored two goals and added a pair of assists, while McNamee, a forward from Carleton University, finished with one goal and three helpers.

Five of their teammates racked up three points apiece, including defenceman Martin Lefebvre (1-2-3) of Terrebone, Que., and forwards Brett Welychka (2-1-3) of London, Ont., Pierre-Olivier Morin (2-1-3) of Trois-Rivières, Que., Tommy Giroux (1-2-3) of Quebec City and Slater Doggett (0-3-3) of Oakville, Ont. Rearguard Spencer Abraham of Campbellville, Ont., also chipped in on offence with two goals. 

Welychka and Abraham share the team lead after two games with four goals each. 

Making his first start in Almaty, goaltender Sébastien Auger of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que., registered a nine-save shutout. At the other end of the ice, Matthew Croyle stopped 29 of 38 pucks fired his way before being replaced midway through the contest by Adam Long, who turned aside 31 of 36 shots.

"To be honest it's the hardest game I've ever coached, and I've been doing this a long time. You never want to disrespect the other team but at the same time you have to understand the rules of the tournament, and the reality is goals scored and goal differential are important," said head coach Brett Gibbons from Queen's University. "When it gets to that score, no one is proud of it, but that's the way the tournament is set up."

"It's really hard to prepare for a game like this. It's hard to keep the intensity up for 60 minutes and look to score on every shift," added Asselin. "We knew we had to score as many goals as possible. Under the circumstances, we're pleased we the way we played."

Team Canada now turns its attention to Slovakia and expects a much stiffer opposition on Friday. 

"We're looking forward to it," said Gibson. "The Slovaks are a big, big team that plays heavy. We're gonna have to be at our best to beat them but my guys get better every game. They'll be ready."

The ice was barely dry when Abraham opened the scoring 45 seconds in with a superb wrist shot from the point that fooled Croyle high on the glove side. The goal was almost a carbon copy of the two he scored on Monday in a 6-0 win over the United States. 

Asselin made it 2-0 at 3:23 with a highlight reel effort, beating Croyle through the five-hole after sliding the puck between a defenceman's legs. 

The Canucks would add two more before the eight-minute mark, including Asselin's second of the afternoon on the power play, before retreating to the locker room with a six-goal cushion. 

The British best chances came during a 57-second two-man advantage late in the second period but the red and white defence, which has yet to allow a goal in the tournament, refused to break. 

NOTES: Since 1997, Canada has been represented at the biennial Universiade men's hockey tournament by each of the three U SPORTS conferences on a rotating basis... The Canada West all-stars captured bronze in 2015 in Spain, giving Canada its 14^th medal in 15 appearances at the competition, including gold in 2013 (AUS all-stars), 2007 (AUS all-stars), 1991 (Canadian national team) and 1981 (University of Alberta)... In three previous appearances, OUA skaters have won bronze in 1999 (Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia) and 2011 (Erzurum, Turkey) and finished fifth in 2005 (Innsbruck, Austria).