CANADA 2-0 AT 2007 SPENGLER CUP AFTER 6-2 WIN OVER HC DAVOS

by Paul Romanuk

DAVOS, Switzerland – Canada turned on the offence and turned off any hopes for the host club to reach the championship game of their own tournament with a 6-2 victory over HC Davos on day two of the 2007 Spengler Cup.

‘We played a really solid, solid game,” enthused Canadian head coach Sean Simpson afterwards. “We kept the system simple, we executed well; the guys are really finding their way. We’re a team now.”

Canada jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Serge Aubin and Mike Siklenka broke in on Davos goaltender Leonardo Genoni on a 2-on-0 that resulted from a Swiss breakdown in the neutral zone and finished with Siklenka converting on the pass from Aubin.

Mike Maneluk, who played for Canada on the last Spengler Cup winner in 2003, scored against his former team when he evened the score for Davos on the powerplay, and Davos veteran Andres Ambühl put Davos up 2-1 with another Davos powerplay goal early in the second period, but after that it was all Canada.

Yannick Tremblay tied the game at 2-2 about three minutes later and Andre Benoit scored on a beautiful wrist shot from the top of the slot to put Canada ahead 3-2 just past the midway point of the middle frame.

Davos fought valiantly to mount a comeback in the final 20 minutes, but goals from Dale McTavish, Ryan Keller and Serge Aubin provided the final margin of victory.

The game marked a night off for netminder Curtis Joseph and was the Canadian international debut for goaltender Sebastian Caron – who was the first half MVP in the Swiss League with Fribourg.

“I felt a little shaky and a little nervous at first,” said Caron, “but by the third period I felt good.”

Canada has a day off on Friday before resuming action on Saturday against tournament co-favourites Salavat Yulaev Ufa of Russia.

“We’re happy,” said Simpson, “but our feet are on the ground. There’s still a lot of work to do yet.”

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Goals/Buts :
CAN Mike Siklenka (Serge Aubin) 9:00 PP
DAV Mike Maneluk (Gian Marco Crameri, Alexandre Daigle) 14:00 PP

Penalties/Pénalités :
DAV Benjamin Winkler (Hooking) 2:00
CAN Serge Aubin (Tripping) 7:00
DAV Alexandre Daigle (Interference) 8:00
CAN Shawn Heins (Interference) 13:00
DAV Andreas Furrer (Double Roughing) 20:00
CAN Simon Gamache (Roughing) 20:00

Goals/Buts :
DAV Andres Ambühl (Josef Marha) 5:00 PP
CAN Yannick Tremblay 8:00
CAN Andre Benoit (Yves Sarault, Simon Gamache) 11:00 PP

Penalties/Pénalités :
CAN J.P. Vigier (Elbowing) 4:00
DAV Juraj Kolnik (Roughing) 6:00
CAN Ramzi Abid (Tripping) 8:00
DAV Mike Maneluk (Hooking) 10:00
CAN Domenic Pittis (Hooking) 13:00
DAV Dario Bürgler (Tripping) 18:00

Goals/Buts :
CAN Dale McTavish (J.P. Vigier, Shawn Heins) 1:00
CAN Ryan Keller (Yannick Tremblay, Yves Sarault) 17:00
CAN Serge Aubin (Curtis Murphy) 19:00

Penalties/Pénalités :
CAN Cory Pecker (Roughing) 2:00
DAV Josef Marha (High Sticking) 5:00
DAV Pascal Müller (Roughing) 8:00
CAN Dale McTavish (Roughing) 8:00
CAN Serge Aubin (Tripping) 12:00
DAV Andres Ambühl (Tripping) 15:00