BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — St. Francis College Brooklyn’s Nikita Prokhin (Jr., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) scored once as Canada took an 18-8 loss versus the United States of America in the Ninth Place game of the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan).
The loss drops Canada to 3-4 at the tournament after previously losing to defending champion Hungary (17-3 L, August 18), downing the Republic of South Africa (8-4 W, August 20) and taking a 28-2 setback against Serbia (Monday, August 21) to complete Pool C action. Following the conclusion of Pool C competition, the United Kingdom/Great Britain nipped Canada, 7-6, to prevent Prokhin and his countrymen from earning a Top Eight finish in the 16-team field. Canada then topped South Africa, 7-6, for a second time on Friday, August 25, prior to upending the Republic of Korea, 9-4, on Sunday, August 27 to set-up the meeting with Team USA for Ninth Place.
The Canadians led only once in the game as Devon Thumwood broke the ice 17 seconds into the game to stake his homeland to an early 1-0 margin. The Americans answered with three consecutive markers to go ahead to stay at 3-1.
Leading 4-2 after the first quarter, Team USA pulled away in the second quarter courtesy a 5-1 frame to build the deficit between the programs to 9-3 by halftime.
Canada’s deficit ballooned to 12-3 by the conclusion of the third quarter as the United States ripped off a 3-0 run prior to putting the contest away with a 6-5 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter for the 18-8 final score.
Prokhin’s goal came with 3:26 remaining the final period of play as he ripped in an unassisted tally to move Canada within nine at 15-6. However, Team USA closed out the game with a 3-2 spurt in the final moments of the contest for a 10-goal victory.
He concludes the University Games with two goals, an assist and a steal in seven games as he notched an assist versus Hungary, a steal against South Africa in their first meeting, no statistics of note in the Serbia game, a goal facing Great Britain and sprint victories in Canada’s second meeting with South Africa and clash with South Korea.
