Quarter-final matchups set at World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

The playoff matchups are set for the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

After four games on Tuesday, the final day of round robin action, the quarter-finals are next up after an off-day on Wednesday.

Thanks to a victory over Team USA on Tuesday night, Team Canada Black secured top spot in Group A and will face Finland on Thursday after the Finns finished fourth in Group B with a 1-2 record.

Team Canada Black got a three-point performance from Allan McShane (one goal, two assists) to beat Team USA 4-3.

Team Canada Black Coach Paul Boutilier credited goaltender Jacob Ingham, who stopped 22 shots, for his play in the victory.

“What was nice was that Iggy had a couple of big saves for us,” Boutilier said. “He was really steady. He stopped that breakaway (on Joel Farabee) on a really good shot. That lifted the team.”

Adam McMaster also had a goal and two assists for Team Canada Black while Ty Smith chipped in with a pair of goals.

Jake Wise had a pair of goals for Team USA while Farabee added a goal and an assist.

“It was a good hockey game,” said Team USA Coach Danton Cole. “I thought our guys played well tonight.

“Our guys kept battling right until the final buzzer,” Cole added. “Now we reset the clock and that’s the important thing is to get ourselves back and play our best game of the tournament on Thursday.”

The other quarter-final matchups will see Team Canada Red (2-1-0) face Team Canada White (1-2-0) and Team Russia (2-1-0) will face Team Czech Republic (1-1-1).

In other action on Tuesday, Shawn Element scored at 4:17 of the third period to give Team Canada Red a 1-0 win over Team Russia at the Essar Centre. Canadian goaltender Kevin Mandolese stopped all 23 shots he faced. Russian goaltender Amir Miftakhov stopped 25 shots.

Tuesday’s other game at the Essar Centre saw Jakub Lauko scored three times and assist on two more goals as the Czech Republic beat Team Canada White 8-2. Dominik Arnost added two goals and an assist while Adam Gajarsky had a goal and an assist for the Czechs. Karel Plasek and Frantisek Rehak also scored in the victory. Akil Thomas and Samuel Houde scored for Team Canada White.

At the John Rhodes Community Centre on Tuesday Samuel Fagemo had a goal and two assists as Sweden doubled up Finland 4-2. David Gustafsson and Jonatan Berggren also scored for the Swedes. Oskar back assisted on a pair of goals for Sweden. Miska Kukkonen and Karri Kapanen scored for Finland.