Oshawa, Ajax connections help Canada win world hockey gold
Published May 29, 2023 at 8:35 am
Two players (and a coach) with local connections figured prominently in Canada’s return to the winner’s circle at the IIHF World Hockey Championships Sunday, with former Oshawa General star Scott Laughton icing the final with an empty-netter – his third goal of the tournament – as Canada beat Germany 5-2.
It’s the second gold in three years for the Canadians, who were dethroned in overtime last year by Finland after winning gold in 2021. It was the first senior national competition for Laughton, who served as captain of Canada’s World junior entry in 2014, and the forward responded with eight points.
Also scoring three times in the event was Michael Carcone of Ajax, who was playing in his first international event.
Ottawa Senators head coach DJ Smith, who was the bench boss of the Oshawa Generals when they won their last Memorial Cip in 2015, was an assistant coach for zTeam Canada.
Laughton scored 110 goals for Oshawa between 2010-2014 before jumping to the NHL, where he has enjoyed a 519-game career, all with the Philadelphia Flyers. Carcone has split the past two seasons between the Arizona Coyotes and their AHL affiliate in Tucson, where he scored 85 points and was named to the league’s first all-star team this year.
Other ex-Generals in the tournament include Renars Krastenberg (2016-2018), who was a member of Latvia’s historic bronze medal-winning squad, and Nicklas Jensen (2010-2012), who played for Denmark.
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Canada went 8-2 in the 16-day event, held in Tampere, Finland, and survived a two-game losing streak mid-tournament before coming back with four straight wins, including Sunday’s gold medal final.
Samuel Blais (St. Louis) paced Canada with a pair of goals Sunday, with Lawson Crowse (Arizona) and captain Tyler Toffoli (Calgary) adding singles.
Trophy = claimed😎🇨🇦@HockeyCanada #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/lukNmOpN1l
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 28, 2023
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