OSTRAVA, Czechia — Rod Crane had two goals and Adam Dixon had a goal and two assists as Team IPH defeated Canada 7-5 Thursday at the 2023 International Para Hockey Cup.
Crane, from Clarksburg, Ont., and Dixon, from Midland, Ont., are two of three Canadians on the IPH team's international roster along with Rob Armstrong of Erin, Ont.
Canada captain Tyler McGregor of Forest, Ont., led all players with two goals and two assists.
Dominic Cozzolino of Mississauga, Ont., had a pair of power-play goals in the second period for Canada, while Anton Jacobs-Webb of Gatineau, Que., also scored.
Alex Enderle, Liam Cunningham, Nils Lars and Rob Easley also scored for Team IPH.
Canada outshot IPH 33-18, but Patrik Sedlacek made 28 saves to stall the Canadian offence.
Tyson Rietveld of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., made 24 saves for Canada.
The teams will meet again in Saturday's semifinals. Canada (1-2) finished third in the four-team preliminary round while IPH (2-1) was second.
“We were able to connect and create some good passes today. We have to focus on defence a bit more, because we may have sacrificed (our defence) a little bit for our offence," Jacobs-Webb said.
"We are going to go back to our basics after today’s game. We have some focus points that we need to execute on as a team, and we really need to focus on our preparation and mindset heading into (the semifinals)."
In other results, the United States (3-0) beat Czechia (0-3) 4-1. The teams will meet in Saturday's other semifinal.
The final is Sunday at Ostravar Arena.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.
The Canadian Press
