Mount Pearl’s Zach Dean and his Canada Black teammates saw their medal hopes end Thursday at the World Under-17 Challenge with an 8-4 loss to Russia in quarter-final play.
The Canada Black side, one of three Canadian entries in the event, had been undefeated in preliminary-round play, with two overtime wins and a shootout victory, but fell behind early to the Russians and never caught up in their game at Medicine Hat, Alta.
Frustratingly for Canada Black, which had been the only undefeated team before Thursday, the three sides it defeated in preliminary play — Canada White, the Czech Republic and the United States — are the other teams moving on to the semifinals.
The 16-year-old Dean, a rookie with the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, didn’t have any points Thursday against Russia, but did collect two goals and two assists in preliminary play.
Canada Black’s competition is not done as it has a placement game against Finland Saturday in Swift Current, Sask., co-host site of the tourney.
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