The team was led by Rick Nash (London, OHL), who not only scored a hat trick, but added a pair of assists as well to finish the tournament with nine points in five games. In addition to Nash, Pierre-Marc Bouchard (Chicoutimi, QMJHL) and Alex Leavitt (Notre Dame, SJHL) added single goals in the first period to put Canada up 3-2 after one.
Russia added a pair of second period goals, but Canada responded with three of their own, one each by Nash, Maxime Talbot (Hull, QMJHL), and Tim Brent (Toronto, OHL). The final frame of the contest belonged to Canada, as Bouchard, Nash, and the Red Deer Rebels’ Derek Meech each added goals to round out the scoring.
Jarret Lukin also added an assist on Leavitt’s goal in the first period.
Maxime Daigneault (Val d’Or, QMJHL) stopped 26 of 30 Russian shots in the winning effort.
Russia’s Nikolai Zherdev posted a hat trick in the loss. Vladislav Evseev posted the other tally for the team.
Canada’s unofficial U-18 statistics
Player GP G A Pts PIM Rick Nash 5 5 4 9 10 Pierre-Marc Bouchard 5 6 2 8 4 Tim Brent 5 2 3 5 13 Jarret Lukin 5 3 1 4 4 Maxime Talbot 5 3 1 4 6 Alex Leavitt 5 1 2 3 2 Daniel Paille 5 0 3 3 4 Ben Eager 5 1 1 2 9 Derek Meech 5 1 1 2 2 Adam Gibson 5 0 2 2 2 Kevin Klein 5 0 2 2 4 Andy Thompson 5 0 2 2 10 Lance Monych 5 0 1 1 0 Jeff Tambellini 5 0 1 1 6 Ian White 5 0 1 1 2 Andre Benoit 5 0 0 0 2 Tyler Boldt 5 0 0 0 6 Chris Campoli 5 0 0 0 2 Jimmy Cuddihy 5 0 0 0 2 Eric Staal 5 0 0 0 7
Player vitals: Lance Monych
Position: Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Height: 6-2
Weight: 190
Birthdate: 7/25/84
Hometown: Winnipeg, MB
Statistics
Year Team League GP G A Pts PIM 1999-00 Winnipeg Ban AAA 30 32 32 64 n/a 1999-00 Brandon WHL 3 0 0 0 0 2000-01 Brandon WHL 53 14 8 22 34 2000-01* Brandon WHL 6 1 0 1 0 * = playoffs
