Canada breaks Thailand´s heart in a push for play off position – 05.12.2016

Canada defeated Thailand in a game full of penalties and grind to earn a very important win to qualify for the quarter finals.

As if day three was not full of excitement and surprises already, Team Canada came out to play as if they had to fight for their lives.  Impressive pressure from them in the 1st period, just barely allowing Thailand to step away from their defensive zone, in the first five minutes of the game. Clearly Thailand could not afford to be pushed around and that turned the game into a heated battle.  It took Canada 13 minutes of a huge load of pressure to finally capitalize and make it 1-0, after a goal from Brandon Barber. Canada’s goalkeeper Benjamin took care of high risk chances in front of his own net. 15:02 played and Thailand hit the post and was creating chaos in front of the Canadian net but it was all safe for the North Americans.  A minute and 22 seconds later, Thailand reached the equalizer. By the end of the period both sides exchanged goals between them to make it 2-3 Canada to round up the first period.

In the 2nd period, there was noticeable difference in the way the game was played. Thailand and Canada picked up the pace to make it more enjoyable for the viewers.  It did not take long for Canada to put themselves up by two.  Then Thailand got a huge chance to make things work for them on a power play and they did not waste their time to make it 3-4, cutting their goal deficit to one. Later on reaching a tie, the score remained unchanged at 4-4 after two periods.

Two minutes into the 3rd  period, Thailand got penalized which gave Canada a chance to get back in the lead.  No luck on it as it gave Thailand a boost to take over the control of the game.  Their offensive pressure was though enough for Canada to get their own two minute penalty that led to another one, meaning Thailand would have a 5on3 power play. Canada got one of their players back, and to switch things up Thailand took a penalty meaning it was time for 4on4 play.  None of those penalties mattered up until Canada earned a penalty shot and that was executed perfectly to give them a one goal lead heading towards the end of the game. Thailand pulled their goalie to at least try and attempt to squeeze out a tie, but it was not enough and Canada won their must-win game with a final score of 5-4.