Vernon’s Andrew Ebbett scored once as Team Canada blanked Belarus 2-0 in a pre-Olympics men’s hockey game played Tuesday in Riga, Latvia.
Kevin Poulin (Montreal, Que./EHC Kloten, NLA) turned away all 29 shots he faced for his second-straight international shutout after blanking Switzerland 2-0 in the Spengler Cup final on New Year’s Eve.
The Canadians made it back-to-back clean sheets in Riga following a 2-0 win over Latvia on Sunday.
After the teams traded early power plays, Canada opened the scoring just shy of the 12-minute mark; Eric O’Dell (Ottawa, Ont./HC Sochi, KHL) drove wide in the Belarus zone and centered for former Vancouver Canucks forward Maxim Lapierre (Brossard, Que./HC Lugano, NLA), who jammed the 1-0 goal past goaltender Igor Brikun from in tight.
The Canadians had a 13-5 edge in shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, but Belarus would have the advantage the rest of the way, testing Poulin with 24 shots over the final two periods.
Ebbett (SC Bern, NLA), the first-ever player signed by the B.C. Hockey League’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks, added a second Canadian goal seven minutes into the third, but it was far from over; Canada paraded to the penalty box immediately following the insurance marker, taking four minors in just over five minutes and giving Belarus a 5-on-3 advantage for 47 seconds.
But Poulin barred the door, making 13 saves in the final frame to preserve the shutout and send Canada to South Korea with a scoreless streak of more than 205 minutes, dating back to the semifinals at the Spengler Cup.
Canada departs for PyeongChang on Wednesday; it will take on Sweden in its final pre-tournament game on Sunday in Incheon, a rematch of the 2014 Olympic gold medal game.