Maxime Comtois scores two short-handed goal to lead Canada past Sweden 4-1

BRATISKLAVA, Slovakia – Maxime Comtois scored two short-handed goals to lead Canada’s under-18 men’s hockey team past Sweden 4-1 at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup on Wednesday.

Despite the win Canada (2-1) failed to reach the semifinal round and will play Finland for fifth place on Friday. The Canadians were coming off a tough 2-1 loss to Russia on Tuesday after opening the tournament with a 3-2 overtime victory over Slovakia on Monday.

Matthew Strome and Elijah Roberts had the other goals for Canada while Michael DiPietro made 18 saves.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for how hard they played — they were resilient and really came together as a team,” Canadian head coach Paul McFarland said. “Every game we’ve played better and better.

“We had some unlucky bounces in the first two games — 40 shots both games but just didn’t get the bounces. Today we got the bounces. We got a couple of breaks shorthanded there and Max really bore down and put them away.”