ETOBICOKE, Ont. – Nick Ritchie (Orangeville, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) scored twice, including his second game-winning goal in as many games, as Red beat White for the second night in a row at Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team selection camp, earning a 5-1 win on Sunday night.
Just as they did in Saturday’s camp-opening 3-0 win, Ritchie and Shea Theodore (Aldergrove, B.C./Seattle, WHL) gave Red a 2-0 first period lead, and Jonathan Drouin (Ste-Agathe, Que./Halifax, QMJHL) made it a three-goal advantage before the end of the opening 20 minutes.
White finally got on the board late in the second period as Anthony Duclair beat Red netminder Zachary Fucale (Rosemère, Que./Halifax, QMJHL) just seconds after a power play had expired, giving White its first goal in more than 96 minutes.
But Ritchie’s second gave Red even more breathing room just past the 13-minute mark of the third period and Matthew Needham (Penticton, B.C./Kamloops, WHL) capped off the scoring into an empty net with 2:30 to go, giving Red a chance for an intrasquad sweep on Monday morning in the camp finale (11:30 a.m. ET) at the MasterCard Centre.
Red, which outshot White 34-33, spread around the scoring, with nine different players recording points and only Ritchie putting his name on the scoresheet more than once.
Both teams once again split the goaltending duties, with Tristan Jarry (Delta, B.C./Edmonton, WHL) stopping everything he faced for the second night in a row in the Red goal before giving way to Fucale, while Eric Comrie (Edmonton, Alta./Tri-City, WHL) allowed three goals for White before Spencer Martin (Oakville, Ont./Mississauga, OHL) took over midway through the second period.
Following Monday’s game, 22 players will be selected for Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team, which will attempt to win a fifth consecutive gold medal at the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, Aug. 13-18 in Piestany, Slovakia and Breclav, Czech Republic.
