CAN : SVK – 4:6

Canada played an exhibition game against the Slovaks Saturday morning.
Despite the fact that Team Canada had not played together as a unit,
not even a practice, they came out strong, showing good positioning.
With the Slovaks putting up little pressure, Canada took a 4:1 lead
after the first period. Lauri Hannelius was in on all of Canada’s
offensive action with 2 goals of his own and 2 assists on goals by
Ryan Andreotti and Eric Ulli-Vanasse.

The Slovaks turned up the heat and played much more aggressively in
the second and third periods and put an end to Canada’s scoring march.
Canada coughed up the ball mid court one too many times in the third,
allowing the the Slovaks to do a quick turn around rush, scoring 4
goals to take the match 6:4.

Erik Kaill said, “we had a pretty good game, considering it was our
first outing without even practicing together before the game. I
think the result was good.”

Over the next two days, Canada will have a chance to go over tactics,
lead by head coach Johan Osterman of Sweden, and run some of his plays
in practice. The team will have to focus as two days is hardly
considered much by any teams preparation standard.

For a more complete review of todays friendly match visit
http://www.wfc2008.sk/news.php?extend.14

Canada will play the Slovakian Champs, Hurikan Bratislava, in another
friendly match tomorrow.