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Hedman not a problem for Team Canada in exhibition

Written by: Jesse Michael on 19th December 2008

PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT

All eyes were on Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman | read this item

TORONTO – It was billed as a battle between two top prospects, Canada’s John Tavares and Sweden’s Victor Hedman, and as a prospective Gold Medal game preview in Ottawa. However it turned into the team Canada show, with the hometown lads dominating every aspect of the game from the puck drop to the final whistle in beating the visiting Swedes 4-2.

Dana Tyrell, who has been labeled as this year’s version of Steve Downie, gave the announced crowd of nearly 12,000 Canadian fans something to cheer about with huge hit on the 6’6″ Hedman in the first minute of the game.

“Tyrell’s a pretty strong guy,” said Canadian forward Cody Hodgson. “Anytime he gets a run at someone, they’re probably gonna go down”

Canada continued its physical presence that lead to a retaliatory penalty on Swedish forward David Rundblad and a Canadian powerplay. The Canadians took advantage as Hodgson grabbed a rebound off the Swedish goaltender Mark Owuya, took it behind the net and fed it to the aforementioned Tavares, who potted it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

“Tyrell’s a pretty strong guy, anytime he gets a run at someone, they’re probably gonna go down”

Canada continued the momentum from this goal through the rest of the period and into the second, where the top powerplay line of Tavares, Hodgson and Eberle dominated the entire two-minutes. Even though they did not capitalize on the advantage, Canada continued to pressure, taking a 22-9 shots advantage.

They were finally rewarded with their second goal of the game at the 10:02 mark, with Cody Hodgson getting his first goal and second point of the game, tipping in defenceman Alex Pieterangelo’s shot from the point, past a screened Owuya.

“It was great, felt really good. I had tons of chances and wasn’t sure when I’d get one but I kept plugging away and sometimes you get a lucky one and that’s what happened for me,” said Hodgson.

Hodgson wasn’t done there as he picked up his second assist of the game, on a shot that caromed off the boards onto the stick of Zach Boychuk, who was able to fend off the Swedish defender and put Canada up 3-1.

Defenceman Ryan Ellis, who was added to the team as a powerplay specialist, felt that the team was ready to show their skills to the world after a few days of practicing together.

“It was a lot of fun out there. It was good to get our legs moving and a great experience for all the guys in the room that haven’t been able to experience this before.”

Jamie Benn scored the fourth Canadian goal at 13:03 of the third period to secure the victory behind solid goaltending from both Chet Pickard and Dustin Tokarski who combined to stop 22 of 24 shots.

Canada’s next game is December 21st @ 7 pm against Finland in Mississauga

Topics: Cody Hodgson, Dana Tyrell, Jamie Benn, John Tavares, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Ellis, Team Canada, Victor Hedman