Hall Scores Twice as Canada
Advances to Gold Medal Game

Kazan, Russia – For the first time since 2005, Canada will play for gold at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship

Taylor Hall (Kingston, ON/Windsor, OHL) scored twice, both on the powerplay, as the National Men's Under-18 Team advanced to the gold medal game with a 3-2 win over Sweden in Monday's first semi-final.

Both of Hall's goals came on the powerplay, as Canada finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage and killed all nine of Sweden's powerplays.

"We moved the puck pretty well on the power play," Hall said after the win. "We killed all nine penalties, and guys did things for the team and not from themselves, giving 100 per cent. It was a good team effort."

Matt Duchene (Haliburton, ON/Brampton, OHL) scored Canada's other goal, while captain Cody Hodgson (Markham, ON/Brampton, OHL) and Jordan Eberle (Calgary, AB/Regina, WHL) added two assists apiece.

"The Swedish team came on really strong early," said Canadian head coach Pat Quinn. "We were emotional early in the game and perhaps those emotions were sort of an Achilles heel for us, distracting us for a while. Fortunately, we calmed down and we played well."

Jake Allen (Fredericton, NB/St-John's Ice Dogs, QMJHL) continued his strong play between the pipes for Canada, stopping 36 shots. Allen leads the tournament with a 1.60 goals against average and .935 save percentage, playing every minute thus far for the Canadians.

Sweden jumped out to the lead early, as Mattias Tedenby beat Allen just 5:51 after the opening face-off. It didn't take long for the Canadians to respond, however, as Duchene kept the puck on a two-on-one and snuck a shot past Swedish netminder Jacob Markstrom just 37 seconds later.

The Swedes struck early again in period two, as Jakob Silfverberg beat Allen on a breakaway to restore the Swedish one-goal lead. But again Canada responded, this time on the powerplay, as Hall batted a centering pass from Hodgson out of mid-air and past a lunging Markstrom, sending the game to the second intermission tied 2-2.