Hockey Canada Media Recap (May 15): 2023 IIHF World Championship
RIGA, Latvia – Canada’s National Men’s Team remains undefeated at the 2023 IIHF World Championship after beating Slovakia 2-1 in a shootout to secure its third-straight win at Arena Riga on Monday.
- Jack Quinn (Ottawa, Ont./Buffalo, NHL) scored the winning goal in the eighth round of the shootout.
- Jake Neighbours (Airdrie, Alta./St. Louis, NHL) netted his first world championship goal on a breakaway in the first period.
- Jack McBain (Toronto, Ont./Arizona, NHL) tallied an assist.
- Sam Montembeault (Bécancour, Que./Montréal, NHL) was stellar in the Canadian goal, making 23 saves and turning aside six shots in the shootout to earn Player of the Game honours.
- Canada outshot Slovakia 43-24.
Next Game:
Canada vs. Kazakhstan – Wednesday, May 17 (1:20 p.m. ET/10:20 a.m. PT)
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will broadcast 64 and 24 games, respectively; please check local listings for details.
Quotes:
“It was a really tight game with a lot of penalties. I did not think our penalty kill was great near the beginning of the game, but we got much better and at the end our PK was rock solid. We need to do some fine-tuning on the power play because we were forcing plays today, but I thought our five-on-five play was solid. We did not give [Slovakia] much to work with aside from a few minor breakdowns, and I like the way our game is progressing.”
“[Montembeault] has been really solid since we came together. He played well in our pre-tournament game and has been poised in both tournament games he has played. He is really assertive, and we have a lot of confidence in him.”
- Head coach André Tourigny (Nicolet, Que./Arizona, NHL) on special teams play and the play of Montembeault
“It was a hard-fought battle all the way to the end, and [Montembeault] was great and kept us in the game. We needed to stick with our game plan, and obviously there was some frustration when [Slovakia] was playing so well defensively and we could not get much going on offence. We know we are going to face some adversity in every game we play, so we just need to stay positive and keep getting chances.”
- Quinn on the challenge of playing Slovakia
“It is a little bit nerve-wracking [in the shootout], and shootouts are not usually the best part of my game. It is a one-on-one situation and you never know what could happen, but I know I needed to do my part. We got a big goal [from Quinn] and I just needed to make the last save, and I am glad we got the win. We played a good game today, but we did not capitalize on some opportunities. We are going to keep building off this win, but overall we feel good about our play right now.”
- Montembeault on the shootout and today’s win
For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along through social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and by using #IIHFWorlds.
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For more information or to be removed from the media contact list, please contact:
Spencer Sharkey Sean Kelso
Manager, Communications Director, Communications & Media Relations
Hockey Canada Calgary Flames
905-906-5327 403-826-7846