GRANADA, Spain — A classic hockey rivalry headlined Canada’s day on Saturday at the 27th Winter Universiade.
Canada rallied past Russia for a 5-3 win in men’s hockey, relying heavily on its defensive corps to earn the victory.
Down 2-0 after the first period, Canada tied it just 96 seconds into the second. Defenceman Jesse Craige tied it up again at 3-3 late in the second, then scored the eventual winner 33 seconds into the third as Canada finished the round robin 3-0 and atop the Pool B standings.
Goalie Kris Lazaruk made 30 saves in the win, while Craige and blue-line partner Jordan Rowley combined for seven points at the Granada Sports Palace.
"You’re only as good as your defence and goaltending in any tournament or championship, and we’re real solid back there," said Canadian head coach Dave Adolph, whose squad of Canada West conference all-stars aims to defend the Universiade title won in 2013 by a team of AUS standouts. "Our skilled guys were good, but the performance of our bottom pairing guys, I mean, Luke Paulsen was unbelievable out there in the final five minutes of the game, and same with (Matt) Delahey, in that shutdown role. I like them all, that’s why we picked them."
Canada will next see action in the quarter-final on Wednesday against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
Elsewhere, alpine skier Victoria Stevens recorded the best individual performance so far at the Universiade by a Canadian with an eighth-place finish in the women’s super combined.
Stevens, who was 12th after the super G component of the event, made up ground on the slalom to finish with a time of 1:51.30 and a place in the top eight, improving on her 16th-place finish in the super G race on Friday. Teammate Stephanie Gould missed a gate on the slalom and did not finish.
Also, skip Breanne Meakin led Canada’s women’s curling rink to a 9-3 win over Sweden in just seven ends in the morning draw, then edged Switzerland 6-4 in the evening to remain undefeated at 5-0 past the midway point of the nine-game round robin competition.
Meakin, along with her Carleton University-based rink of third Lauren Horton, second Lynn Kreviazuk and lead Jessica Armstrong will face host Spain (0-5) in their only action Sunday.
While the women continued to roll, the men’s rink, skipped by Matthew Dunstone, suffered a disappointing 8-6 loss to Switzerland’s Daniel Schifferli in the only men’s draw of the day. Trailing by 7-6 but with last rock in the 10th end, Canada gave up a steal in the frame to fall to 1-3 in the competition.
Dunstone’s University of Manitoba rink of third Jim Coleman (Winnipeg), second Daniel Grant (Winnipeg) and lead Chris Gallant (Charlottetown) will look to make up ground in the standings with their two draws on Sunday. In the early-morning round, Canada will face Russia (3-1), while a date with host Spain (1-3) is on the dance card for the evening draw on Sunday.