Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team will play for gold at the 2010 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament after defeating the Czech Republic 6-2 in Breclav in Friday’s semifinal. Canada will face the United States, which defeated Sweden 5-4 in overtime in the other semi, in the gold medal game on Saturday in Piestany, Slovakia.
Canada jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals from Lucas Lessio (Maple, Ont./St. Michael’s, CCHL), Alan Quine (Belleville, Ont./Kingston, OHL) and Matt Puempel (Essex, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) en route to its 12th victory in a row at the tournament, earning a chance to win its third-consecutive gold. Lessio finished with two goals, while Brett Ritchie (Orangeville, Ont./Sarnia, OHL) and Garrett Meurs (Ripley, Ont./Plymouth, OHL) also scored for Canada, which improved to 12-2-2 all-time against the Czechs.