Vancouver Giants' Schmidt Leads Canada to Decisive Victory Over Slovakia
The Giants forward was one of three WHL players to record a point to secure Canada's second win of the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky tournament.
Jonathan Kozub, Hockey Canada Images - Vancouver Giants' Schmidt Leads Canada to Decisive Victory Over SlovakiaRiding high from a 10-1 decision over Switzerland on Monday, Team Canada looked to repeat their performance against a Slovak squad that had dropped a one-goal game to Sweden to open their tournament play.
Cameron Schmidt (Vancouver Giants) opened the scoring just four minutes in, off a Jackson Smith (Tri-City Americans) rebound. Four minutes later, Schmidt ripped a one-timer between the legs of Michal Pradel to double the Canadian lead. Smith would also assist a Luca Romano marker to give Canada a 3-0 cushion.
Slovakia did get one back, but halfway through the third period Emile Guite finished off a spectacular passing play from Medicine Hat Tigers star Gavin McKenna and Erie Otters defenceman Matthew Schaefer. Luca Romano potted one more to seal the deal for Canada and they skated away with a 5-1 victory.
“I had a couple of breakaways and great looks last night but couldn’t get one to drop, so to get [two] tonight helps with the confidence for sure." said Schmidt post-game, about getting on the scoresheet. He continued, "Our goal is to come out on top of our group in the standings heading into the medal round. To get a couple of wins early is nice, but we need to keep building off this.”
The Vancouver forward was also presented with the Player of the Game honours, as the standout performer for Team Canada.
Late in the third period, Seattle Thunderbirds prospect Braeden Cootes got wrapped up with Adam Goljer and ended up getting a five-minute major along with a game misconduct for spearing. No supplemental discipline has been announced as of the time of this article being posted.
Slovakia will close out their preliminary schedule against Switzerland on Thursday evening, while Canada will follow and wrap up their three-game slate against Sweden to conclude day three.
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