Canada's power play propels it to semis at Spengler Cup

Canada booked its berth in the Spengler Cup semifinals with a 5-1 victory over Mountfield HK on Thursday in Davos, Switzerland.

Andrew Ebbett, Maxim Noreau, and Mason Raymond all scored on the power play to set up a rematch with HC Dinamo Minsk in Friday's semifinals.

"That power play's been really good for all three games, and again tonight," said Canada's coach Luke Richardson. "I thought we skated well and had the puck in our possession in the first period, they were forced to take penalties, and the power play again struck. . . and made them pay, so I thought that was the big difference.

"Three power play goals in all three games, that's unheard of."

Ebbett, Raymond and Brandon Gormley were the offensive leaders with a goal and two assists apiece, while Francis Pare was the other Canadian goal scorer.

Fucale a 'calming influence'

Zach Fucale stopped 19 of 20 shots to record his second win in goal.

"I think Zach Fucale has come in and played really well the last two games, kind of gave us some confidence," Richardson said. "Sometimes that's a calming influence, helps the team with a lot of offensive talent, use that talent because they feel confident back there."

Minsk topped the Canadians 7-4 in the tournament opener on Monday, in what Richardson said he thought was actually a better game for Canada than the team's 4-3 win over host HC Davos the next night.

"So it will be nice to play a team that beat you, there's always motivation there," Richardson said. "But they're a good team, they play a little bit of a North American style compared to the other teams, so we'll have to be ready for a little bit more of a physical game."

Canada has appeared in 11 of the last 15 championship games at the Spengler Cup, winning the tournament in 2002, '03, '07, 2012 and 2015.