By Canadian Press

Canada beats Kalpa Kuopio 6-3 in quarterfinals at Spengler Cup

Dec 29, 2023 | 2:06 PM

DAVOS, Switzerland — Chris DiDomenico had two goals and an assist to lead Canada to a 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Kalpa Kuopio on Friday at the Spengler Cup.

DiDomenico iced the win by scoring an empty-net goal with 43 seconds remaining.

Canada led 5-0 early in the third period before Kalpa Kuopio stormed back with goals by Colby Sissons, Jaakko Rissanen and Kasper Simontaival in a span of just over 11 minutes.

Kalpa Kuopio continued to press late in the period and had chances with the extra attacker but couldn’t cut the deficit further.

Jonathan Ang and John Quenneville tallied early in the first period for Canada and DiDominco scored late in the second stanza.

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Juha Jatkola was pulled in favour of Stefanos Lekkas early in the third period after Jonathan Hazen and Guillaume Asselin scored 24 seconds apart for Canada.

The result guarantees an improved finish for Canada at this year’s tournament after a quarterfinal exit last year.

Canada opened its round-robin schedule Tuesday with a 4-0 round-robin win over Frolunda HC before dropping a 4-3 decision to host HC Davos two days later.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the final goes Sunday.

The Spengler Cup is an annual club hockey tournament among European teams and a squad of Canadian professionals.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.

The Canadian Press