Norway upsets Canada with shootout win at World Hockey Championship

RIGA, Latvia — Thomas Olsen scored the shootout winner to complete Norway's 3-2 upset over Canada at the men's world hockey championship on Monday.

It was Canada’s second loss to Norway in tournament history, and its first since 2000.

"(Norway) plays well defensively, and we knew that going into the game," said Canada head coach Andre Tourigny. "We did not play fast enough to get on the inside on them, and against a team like that you need to attack the inside of the ice to create scoring chances."

Forwards Andreas Martinsen and Sondre Olden scored the goals for Norway in regulation play, while forwards Milan Lucic and Lawson Crouse, who scored with 12 seconds remaining to force overtime, replied for Canada.

Goalie Jonas Arntzen made 31 saves in the Norwegian net, and Joel Hofer turned away 21 shots for Canada.

Canada has now suffered two straight defeats after losing 3-2 in regulation to Group B leader Switzerland on Saturday. Canada remains in third place in the group, one point behind Czechia.

"Adversity is part of this tournament. If you cannot overcome adversity, you will not have a good chance of winning," said Tourigny. "We are going through some adversity right now, which will help build character among our team."

Norway jumped from seventh to sixth with the shootout win, but won't advance to the knockout round, which begins Thursday.

Martinsen opened the scoring at 9:45 in the first period, and Olden doubled Norway's lead less than two minutes into the second frame.

Lucic got Canada on the board at 8:26 in the second period with a shot from the point that beat Arntzen. Defencemen MacKenzie Weegar and Jacob Middleton provided the assists.

With the goalie pulled, Crouse buried a pass from forward Michael Carcone to tie the game in the dying seconds.

Norway went on to win the shootout 4-2 after a scoreless overtime.

The Canadians wrap up the preliminary round with a Tuesday game against Czechia.

"We need to play better," said Crouse. "All these teams here play so well defensively, and we need to find a way to get higher-quality scoring chances. It is a quick turnaround for tomorrow’s game, and it is a short tournament, so we need to learn from what we did wrong tonight."

Elsewhere in the tournament on Monday, Sweden beat Denmark 4-1 in Tampere, Finland, to move one point behind the United States in the Group A standings.

Later, Austria played Hungary in Group A and Kazakhstan faced Slovenia in Group B.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2023.