Laberge, Quenneville score first-period goals to lead Canada past Finland 3-1

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Canada’s under-18 hockey team went into their final preliminary game of the u-18 world championship with a goal in mind.

After beating Finland 3-1 on Tuesday to wrap up top spot in Group B, they accomplished it.

Pascal Laberge and David Quenneville scored first-period goals as Canada capped round-robin play with an undefeated 4-0 record.

“We wanted to make sure that we were ready to play our game from the beginning, and to me, that was the best start we’ve had in the tournament,” said Canada’s head coach Shaun Clouston. “Credit to the guys — they were very focused heading into the game.

“You have to give Finland and their coaching staff and players credit, they just kept battling. They played hard and play with a lot of structure, and they found a way to really make it close at the end. You eventually have to beat everybody but we wanted to make sure that if we could, we had the opportunity to win our pool and now we’ll just get a day of rest and go from there.”

Tyson Jost had the other goal for Canada, which will face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Evan Fitzpatrick was solid in Canada’s goal, stopping 26 of 27 shots he faced.

“Our coaching staff and us as a team, we really sat down and focused on (Finland’s) strengths and what we needed to do to win,” said defenceman Dante Fabbro. “We didn’t focus too much on them, but we needed to focus on the team aspect in the locker-room and I thought we went out there and executed the game plan.”

Eetu Tuulola had the lone goal for Finland.