Canada beats Sweden to win 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
Canada has won gold for a record 23rd time in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, beating Sweden 4-1 in Red Deer for the team’s first title since 2018.
Canada has won the championship 17 times in the past 22 tournaments, with Canada missing the 2021 tournament due to covid-19 travel restrictions. The tournament did not take place in 2020. Canada has won both events in Alberta, with Canada beating Sweden the first time the tournament took place in Canada in 2018.
Canada outscored its opponents 34-3 in five games, highlighted by a 14-0 victory over Switzerland.
Tanner Howe scored the game’s first goal, scoring from a tight angle at 5:49 of the first. That lead lasted five minutes until Hugo Pettersson capitalized on a Canadian mistake around his own net to tie the game at one apiece. It was the first time Canada had faced a tie scenario all tournament, giving them their first real game of adversity.
It wouldn’t last long though, as Ethan Gauthier’s wrist shot went over Swedish netminder Noah Erliden and in for the 2-1 goal before the end of the first. The second period saw just one goal, with Oshawa Generals forward Cal Ritchie tapping a shot into the side of the net after Erliden was caught looking the other way. Brayden Yager’s fifth of the tournament made it 4-1 late in the game, ensuring Canada would avoid a late-game collapse.
Finland won bronze earlier in the day with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic.