Team Canada East has finished with the silver medal at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge after falling to Russia 2-1 in double overtime in the gold medal game. The medal is the sixth silver and seventh overall for the team.
North Bay's Cole Craft, who plays for the Rockland Nationsls (CCHL) along with Voodoos goalie Owen Say and Voodoos trainer JJ Johnson were part of the silver medallist squad. Craft finished with two assists in six games while Say only got into one period of action allowing one gosl in one period of play against the USA in round-robin play playing behind tournament mvp goaltender Devon Levi of the Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL).
After Pavel Tyutnev scored to give the Russians a 1-0 lead with less than five minutes to play, Team Canada East went on a five-on-three power play in the final two minutes, which became a six-on-three with goaltender Devon Levi (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que./Carleton Place, CCHL) on the bench. Ryan O’Hara (Oakville, Ont./Oakville, OJHL) found Ryan Alexander (Toronto/St. Michael’s, OJHL) with a cross-crease pass, and he beat a sprawling Yegor Guskov with 1:02 remaining to force overtime.
Early in the second extra frame, Russian defenceman Shakir Mukhamadullin found the back of the net on a point shot that redirected off a Canadian, giving Russia its first-ever gold.
