Bowden impresses at World Sledge Hockey Challenge

Canada’s Brad Bowden has been a defenceman for all of two games now. The position apparently suits him.

Bowden recorded six points – scoring twice and adding four assists – as Canada defeated South Korea 10-1 to win its second game in a row at the 2016 World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Charlottetown, Canada on Monday (5 December).

He tied the single-game point mark for the tournament – with himself and three others. Bowden had three goals and three assists five years ago in a game against Japan.

After scoring only three times in its opening win over Norway, Canada had no trouble getting goals.

It took a mere 20 seconds for the first one. Bowden took a pass from Greg Westlake and fired one in from the slot.

Just past the eight-minute mark Bowden returned the favour, passing off to Westlake for him to send the puck low far side and in.

Fifty seconds later Adam Dixon picked up the puck in his own zone, drove down the centre of the ice and scored from the slot.

Canada finished the period with three goals in 2:37. Bowden sent a pass to Ben Delaney at the top of the crease for an easy tap in on the power play. Westlake converted on a second chance down low. And Tyler McGregor brought the puck in from the side boards and scored five-hole.

Canada added two more power play goals in the second period. Steve Arsenault buried a rebound at the side of the net almost six minutes in. James Dunn picked up the first assist, the rookie’s first point with the team. And with only 26 seconds left, Bowden snuck in from the blue-line to take a pass from Delaney and score from the bottom of the right circle.

Only 31 seconds into the final period, Bowden sent a cross-ice pass to Brian Sholomicki, who had an open net to shoot into.

South Korea finally got on the board midway through the period, with Jong-Ho Jang scoring from the side of the net.

Zach Savage, with his first goal for the team, completed the scoring with 1:25 left in the game.

Canada outshot Korea 19-9. Corbin Watson picked up the win in net. Oh-Song Kwon took the loss.

USA V Norway, 8-0

Declan Farmer, Kevin McKee and Brody Roybal combined for 16 points as the USA defeated Norway, 8-0, in its second preliminary-round game.

“I thought we had really great intensity from the moment the game started,” said Jeff Sauer, head coach of the US. “It was a great performance to build on as we head into the off day and begin to prepare for Canada.”

Farmer opened the scoring for the US on a breakaway at 5:02 of the first period when he collected a pass from Roybal in the neutral zone and split two defencemen before beating Norway’s netminder Deng Kissinger glove side. Just 30 seconds later, McKee netted a rebound from a shot by Roybal to double the US lead.

Team USA extended its advantage to 3-0 with 3:59 left in the first stanza when Farmer one-timed a pass from Josh Pauls on a two-on-one rush. Less than a minute after Farmer’s second goal of the game, Rico Roman tallied a rebound during a net-front scramble to give the US a 4-0 lead entering the first intermission.

McKee gave the US a 5-0 lead with 6:08 left in the middle frame, collecting a cross-crease pass from Nikko Landeros and putting the puck into a wide-open net.

Roybal scored twice in the first four minutes of the third period and Adam Page tallied with 9:29 remaining to make the final 8-0.

Bo Reichenbach, who made his first start of the tournament, made three saves to account for Team USA’s second-consecutive shutout to open competition.

The final preliminary round games on Wednesday (7 December) will see South Korea face Norway whilst Canada face the USA.

All games are being streamed live at HockeyTV. More information can be found at Hockey Canada’s website.