PARENT SCORES TWICE, RED BEATS BLACK IN ALL-CANADIAN U17 QF
JASON LA ROSE
DAWSON CREEK, B.C. – Xavier Parent (Blainville, Que./Halifax, QMJHL) scored a pair of goals, propelling Canada Red into the semifinals with a thrilling 4-3 quarter-final win over Canada Black on Thursday night at the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Red will return to Fort St. John to take on the Czech Republic, which upset previously-unbeaten Russia, in the first semifinal on Friday (6 p.m. MT).
Peyton Krebs (Okotoks, Alta./Kootenay, WHL) set up all four goals for Red, which struck twice in the first four minutes of the third period to break open a tie game.
Red started fast, taking a two-goal lead before eight minutes had come off the clock.
Brandon Coe (Ajax, Ont./North Bay, OHL) was first at the 4:54 mark, getting his stick on a bouncing puck and knocking it past Black goaltender Nolan Maier (Yorkton, Sask./Yorkton, SJHL), and Parent buried a Krebs rebound at 7:40 to make it 2-0.
Sasha Mutala (Vancouver, B.C./Tri-City, WHL) got one back for Black before the end of the opening frame, redirecting a Matthew Robertson (Sherwood Park, Alta./Edmonton, WHL) shot through netminder Luke Cavallin (Greely, Ont./Flint, OHL).
Robertson tied the game late in the second period, getting a wrist shot through traffic and past Cavallin to send the teams to the dressing room even at 2-2.
But Parent needed just 49 seconds of the third to restore the Red lead, blazing down the left wing before wiring a shot over the short-side shoulder of Maier, and Xavier Simoneau (Saint-André-Avellin, Que./Drummondville, QMJHL) tucked in a rebound after Krebs hit the post for the eventual game-winner.
Mutala made a game of it when he drove to the net for his second of the game with 4:38 to go, but a frantic push with Maier on the bench in the last minute failed to produce the equalizer.
Black will face Sweden in the seventh-place game on Friday afternoon (2:30 p.m. MT).
HOCKEY CANADA
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