U.S., Canada Will Meet in In-Line Final

Eight days and 40 games later, the In-Line Hockey World Championship has boiled down to what everyone familiar with the International Ice Hockey Federation-sponsored event figured it would.

Canada again will play the United States in tonight’s gold-medal game, while fan support for the fledging event appears to be plodding along.

An announced crowd of 2,352 was at the Pond Thursday to see the North American rivals turn in impressive semifinal victories.

Canadian goaltender Scott Humphrey posted the first shutout in the tournament’s short history, 8-0, over a lackluster Swiss team that played like it knew its place in history had already been secured.

In the nightcap, the U.S. team met the exhausted Russians for the third time in eight days, jumped to a 5-1 lead and rolled to an 11-3 victory behind two goals and four assists from Dave Shute.

“It’s what everyone expected, the U.S.-Canada final,” Canadian defenseman Doug McCarthy said. “We are . . . the two best teams in this tournament and this is what you want, us going hard at it for the medal.”

Officials never expected a big turnout for the semifinals, yet Thursday’s announced attendance ranked second in the tournament’s two-year history behind the 3,700 who turned out for last year’s gold-medal game in Minneapolis. That record is expected to fall tonight, say officials, when the Swiss open the final day against the Russians for the bronze medal at 4:30 p.m., followed by the gold medal game at 7:30.

Clearly, players on both teams would play the final in an empty parking lot with no one watching if they had to.

“It’s no secret that when the Canadians and Americans get together for a hockey game, whether it be on wheels or on ice, everyone is going to play their heart out,” Shute said. “We’re all fighting for our country.”

The United States is undefeated in 11 international competitions in this tournament. Canada, 9-2, has lost only to the United States. The rematch of last Sunday’s Group A match, taken by the Americans, 9-6, is also a rematch of last year’s gold medal final won by the United States, 13-5.

Both teams seem to be peaking at the right time.

Humphrey, who recorded the first shutout of his four-year professional in-line career, stopped 35 shots Thursday, and Brent Thurston had two goals and an assist.

“Our big goal was to be playing our best hockey by Friday,” Canadian Coach Richard Ropchan said. “We’ve had a few sloppy games this week, but by and large I think we are ready.”

The United States got goals from Shute, Joe Cook and light-scoring Hank Taylor to open a 3-0 lead with a little more than 10 minutes gone in the first quarter. Jeff Nelson’s short-handed goal 29 seconds before halftime made it 6-2 and the United States polished this one off by scoring four goals in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the game.

Cook had a goal and three assists and Dave Sauter had a goal and two assists.

“This is what it is all about,” U.S. Coach Roy Sommer said. “They have been talking about this rematch ever since last year and hopefully we’ll come out strong.”

Notes

Consolation game scores: Czech Republic 8, Finland 5; Austria 6, Italy 4; Australia 13, Japan 6; Germany 12, Netherlands 4.