RIGA, Latvia — It’s been a long year for Adam Henrique, but on a day like today, perhaps he can exhale just a bit easier.
Henrique, among few veteran NHL forwards representing Canada at this year’s world hockey championships, had two goals and an assist as his team defeated Norway 4-2 for its first victory in four games.
Connor Brown added a goal and two assists, Andrew Mangiapane also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 13 saves for Canada.
“We capitalized on our chances,” Brown said. “We’ve created a lot of chances but had a little bit of poison in the scoring areas, but we got a couple of good bounces today.”
In what was a rebuilding year for the Anaheim Ducks, Henrique found himself caught in the middle. A 31-year-old center with a hefty contract, Henrique was waived by the Ducks during the season. When no other team claimed him, he returned to Anaheim, but as the franchise continues its rebuild, he may find himself a part of an offseason trade in the coming months.
He decided to represent his country during the postseason months, and was named captain by coach Gerard Gallant. On Wednesday, he played a huge role in pushing Canada into a tie with Norway for sixth place in Group B. Canada has never failed to advance from group play in the event. It will face Kazakhstan on Thursday.
“Obviously, the tournament didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but we’ve been building every period and keep getting better, which is what you want to do in a tournament like this,” Kuemper said. “We had a little bit of adversity today, but this was a huge win and now we have to focus on the next game.”
Thomas Valkae Olsen and Mats Rosseli Olsen scored for Norway.
In the other Group B game Wednesday, Kazakhstan ended first-place Germany’s three-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory. Pavel Akolzin broke a tie on a breakaway with 4:18 left.
“Our goal was to play in the quarterfinals, and the way we are playing, we’re happy with how things are going,” Akolzin said. “We were expecting to win some games, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Nikita Boyarkin made 28 saves and Alexander Shin and Roman Starchenko also scored. Tom Kuhnhackl and Markus Eisenschmid scored for Germany.
The United States (2-1-0) will resume Group B play Thursday against Latvia.
In Group A, Britain beat Belarus 4-3 for its first regulation victory in the event since 1962, and Russia topped Denmark 3-0.
Liam Kirk scored twice for Britain. Ben Davies and Mark Hammond also scored, and Ben Bowns stopped 33 shots.
“It feels fantastic!” Davies said. “We are all buying in, we were doing what we needed to get the win here.”
Alexander Samonov made 18 saves for Russia, and Ivan Morozov, Alexander Barabanov and Dmitri Voronkov scored.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.