By Paul Osborne

Canada beat the USA to claim gold in the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Toronto, Canada ©Getty ImagesDecember 7 - Early goals were the answer again for Canada as they came through to beat the United States in the final of the World Sledge Hockey Challenge in front of a near sell-out crowd at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto, Canada.


In a repeat of their preliminary group match, Canada were able to score early to give themselves a three to nothing cushion coming out of the first period, setting them on their way to gold in front of a home crowd.

Defenceman Adam Dixon got the scoring underway just after the nine minute mark to give the host nation a one nil advantage in the first period.

Billy Bridges and Greg Westlake then netted a goal apiece in the space of 32 seconds to increase Canada's lead to three heading into the first intermission.

The US finally got going almost six minutes into the second period when Josh Pauls scored unassisted to cut the deficit to two.

Neither team would find the back of the net after that leaving Canada to claim their first World Sledge Hockey Challenge title since 2011.

Westlake and Bridges both netted within the space of 32 seconds to seal the win for Canada ©Getty ImagesWestlake and Bridges both netted within the space of 32 seconds to seal the win for Canada ©Getty Images



Canada's dominance was highlighted by their complete shut out of their opposition in the final period where they allowed the US just one shot on goal.

"We've been really focusing on our defensive play and so when the US is coming at us like they did today again in the third, we kept the puck deep in their zone for most of the period," said Canadian head coach Mike Mondin.

Earlier in the day, Russia edged past winless South Korea in truly dramatic fashion to claim the bronze medal.

With both teams tied at 2-2 with less than two minutes remaining Russia's Evgeny Petrov managed to scramble the puck past Man-Gyun Yu in the South Korean goal to give his side a 3-2 advantage.

With the South Korean's then throwing everything they had at Russia to try and find the equaliser, tournament top scorer Dmitry Lisov added a second of the game to seal the win for his team and secure the bronze medal.

South Korea slumped to another defeat ad two late goals secured the bronze medal for Russia ©Getty ImagesSouth Korea slumped to another defeat ad two late goals secured the bronze medal for Russia ©Getty Images



All four teams will now shift their focus to Sochi 2014, with Canada heading into next March as the favourites to take gold.

"We are a good team, and there is no denying that but everybody is targeting us and we've got to keep getting better, we've got to keep pushing it," said Westlake.

"This tournament won't mean anything if we don't win in Sochi, and I really mean that."

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