Francesco Pinelli leads Canada to 7-0 win over Switzerland

PLANO, Texas — Francesco Pinelli had three goals and an assist and Corson Ceulemans scored once and set up two more as Canada downed Switzerland 7-0 on Friday at the under-18 men's hockey championship. 

Thomas Milic only had to make 11 saves for the shutout, while Olen Zellweger chipped in with four helpers.

“I tried to stay positive and focused on the things I could control," said Pinelli.

"When coach called on me, I wanted to be ready to make an impact and I thought I came out and skated well tonight. I helped out our offensive by making good plays with the puck, and I had a good mindset coming into the game.”

Brennan Othmann, Connor Bedard and Dylan Guenther rounded out the offence for Canada (3-0-0), which sits first in Pool A after improving to 11-1 all-time against the Swiss at the tournament.

Mathieu Croce stopped 32-of-39 shots for Switzerland (1-3-0).

Captain Shane Wright, who scored a hat trick in a tournament-opening win over Sweden, sat out his second straight game for undisclosed reasons.

Canada's 24-man roster includes 23 players from the Canadian Hockey League, with Ceulemans of the Brooks Bandits junior-A squad being the lone skater not coming out of Canada's major junior league. 

Also on Friday, Finland (3-0-0) picked up a 10-0 victory over Germany (0-4-0) to remain atop the standings in Pool B.

The Canadians return to the ice Saturday against Belarus (2-1-0).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2021.

The Canadian Press

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