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 Team Canada lost to Japan in a 3-1 shocker at Thunderbird Arena Thursday afternoon. (CARMINE MARINELLI, 24 HOURS) |
A new Paralympic sledge hockey champion will be crowned after Japan shocked Canada 3-1 in a Thursday semifinal at Thunderbird Arena.
Daisuke Uehara beat goaltender Paul Rosen of Thornhill, Ont., with 73 seconds remaining to break a 1-1 deadlock in the physical, end-to-end game. Uehara converted a give-and-go with Kazuhiro Takahashi to deny the Turin 2006 gold medallists a chance to repeat on home ice.
Japan qualified for the Saturday gold medal match while Canada will play for bronze on Friday.
“It's not the medal we wanted but it's the medal we are going to win,” said defenceman Adam Dixon of Mississauga, Ont.
Takayuki Endo was credited with the insurance marker with 16 seconds left after Greg Westlake of Mississauga, Ont., cleared the puck into his own empty net.
“We deserved a better fate than this but sometimes life is not fair,” Westlake said.
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Marc Dorion of Bourget, Ont. opened scoring at 9:56 of the first period on his own rebound. Endo equalized at 7:33 of the second.
Japan’s Mitsuru Nagase saved 19 of 20 Canadian shots in spectacular fashion. He used his mask to deny a breakaway attempt by Bradley Bowden of Orton, Ont., in the second.
"I saw the puck and moved my head into the right place to make the save,” Nagase said. “That is my style."
Japan’s only previous win over Canada was in the preliminary round at Salt Lake 2002. Canada was aiming to become the first Winter Games host to achieve the gold medal hat-trick in hockey.
A paid attendance of 5,039 was announced for the $48 million, 6,800-capacity rink.