San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini scored a first-period goal to help lead Canada to a 4-0 win over the United States on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship in Fribourg, Switzerland.
Celebrini’s goal came with 1:29 left in the first as he beat American goalie Devin Cooley, a Los Gatos native and former Shark, to the glove side. In six games at the tournament, Celebrini, Canada’s captain, has a team-leading six goals and six assists.
Dylan Holloway scored a second-period goal, and Connor Brown and Sidney Crosby added empty-net goals in the third period for Canada, which advanced to the semifinals against a still-to-be-determined opponent.
In last year’s World Championship, Canada, with Celebrini and Crosby on the team, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by tournament co-host Denmark.
Cooley finished with 26 saves for the eliminated U.S., the tournament’s defending champion. Last year’s gold-medal-winning American team had San Jose winger Will Smith among its forward group and was coached by Ryan Warsofsky, who is now entering his third season as the Sharks’ bench boss. Smith did not play for this year’s U.S. team, which was coached by Don Granato.