WINNIPEG – Sean Monahan doesn’t expect an easy gold-medal match when his Team Ontario squad and the United States face off in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge final.
Team Ontario defeated Team Quebec 2-1 in overtime in Monday’s second semifinal, with Monahan netting both goals at the MTS Centre.
The defending-champion Americans also snatched a 6-5 overtime victory in its earlier semi against Team Pacific.
Ontario and the U.S. go into Tuesday’s final with 5-0 records.
"It’s just going to be a hard-fought battle the whole game because it’s a rivalry," said Monahan, a Brampton, Ont., native who scored the game-winner 1:52 into overtime.
"We’ve just got to work hard each and every shift and whoever gets the bounces will win the game."
The U.S. defeated Ontario 2-1 in last year’s gold-medal game in Timmins, Ont.
While the Americans allowed Team Pacific to climb back from a four-goal deficit in their semi, Ontario head coach Jake Grimes doesn’t see that as a chink in their armour.
"We think we know what we’re getting with the U.S. and there’s absolutely no reason to feel that they have weaknesses," Grimes said.
"These are high-end players from a very populated country that play together all year in a high-end program with high-end coaching and high-end physical training.
"So they’re going to come with everything they have and they have a lot to give so we have to play a pretty special game."
Monahan scored the game’s first goal at 17:58 of the first period against Quebec netminder Francois Tremblay.
Charles Simard-Hudon tied the game 1-1 four minutes into the second when he flipped a rebound past Ontario goalie Daniel Altshuller.
Ontario will try for its eighth under-17 gold medal. They last won with back-to-back victories in 2009 against Team Pacific and 2008 versus the Americans.
The U.S. has claimed three tournament golds.
The Americans’ game against Team Pacific started off worthy of their reputation, with leads of 4-1 after the first period and 5-1 in the second.
Then the Pacific team made up of players from B.C. and Alberta began to surge with power-play goals a minute apart late in the second by Hunter Shinkaruk and Troy Bourke.
Defenceman Morgan Rielly of Vancouver vaulted his team into a 5-5 tie with even-strength and power-play goals in the first four minutes of the third.
Forward Nicolas Kerdiles gave the U.S. the victory with his goal 7:24 into overtime.
"I think it was more of a wake-up call, and it’s going to wake us up for tomorrow," Kerdiles said of the narrow victory.
The U.S. also got a pair of goals from Ryan Hartman and singles from Jacob Trouba, Matt Grzelcyk and Stefan Matteau, son of former NHLer Stephane Matteau.
"We believed we picked the guys not only on their skill level, but a lot of it had to do with their character," said Team Pacific head coach Robert Dirk.
"They showed it (today). They could have very easily put their tails between their legs and packed it in at 5-1, but there was a belief we could do this."
The American players are part of a national team development program and had played 21 games together prior to the tournament.
U.S. head coach Danton Cole said "dumb penalties" contributed to his team letting go of a four-goal advantage.
"You go through it and, hopefully, it makes you better," Cole said, adding either Ontario or Quebec would be worthy opponents in a gold-medal match.
"We’ve seen (both teams) enough that I think either game would be a dog fight," said Cole, a former NHLer who once played in Winnipeg for the Jets.
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