YAROSLAVL, Russia (CP) - Ryan Munce made 25 saves to lead Canada to a 3-0 win over Slovakia in Tuesday's final of the world under-18 hockey championships.
Shawn Belle of Edmonton, Anthony Stewart of Toronto and Ryan Getzlaf of Regina scored for Canada, which advanced to the final after a 2-1 overtime win against the defending champion Americans on the weekend. The Slovaks defeated Russia in double overtime in the other semi.
Russia went on to win the bronze medal by defeating the United States 6-3 earlier Tuesday.
Stewart opened the scoring at 11:25 of the first period with a power-play goal. Belle made it 2-0 with less than two minutes to go in the second before Getzlaf scored early in the third.
Munce led all goaltenders in the tournament with a 1.83 goals-against average. He posted a save percentage of .938, which was the second best in the tournament.
Marc-Antoine Pouliot of Quebec City led Canada in points with two goals and seven assists, good for ninth overall.
Canada advanced to the playoffs after finishing the round robin 2-1-1.
Canada entered a team in the world under-18 tournament for the first time last year and finished sixth.
Every summer, the Canadian Hockey Association takes a team of the country's top 18-and-under players to an exhibition tournament in Europe and Canada has won that tournament consistently. But some of those players weren't available for the world tournament because of the Canadian Hockey League playoffs.
This year's team boasted 10 players from the squad that won gold at the Eight Nations event in Piestany, Slovakia, last summer.
