Whitehorse hockey star Gavin McKenna chipped in with an assist for Team Canada in what turned out to be a much tighter game than expected at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup Tuesday.

Canada beat Slovakia 5-1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, but held a slim 3-1 lead going into the third period with Slovakia coming on. 

Canada scored two goals within seven seconds in the third period to put the game away. 

McKenna assisted on the first third-period goal off a face-off, sending a one-touch pass across to Émile Guité, who one-timed it past Slovakia goaltender Michal Pradel, who had been spectacular in net up to that point. 

Pradel inadvertently gave away the puck seconds later to Canadian forward Luca Romano in front of his own net, who deposited it top-shelf to chase Pradel from the game. 

“I liked our resiliency tonight,” said Team Canada Head Coach Kris Malette. “Our second period wasn’t our best… credit to Slovakia for a real strong push. We got some real key saves from Lucas (Beckman) and we bent but didn’t break.” 

Guité also recorded an assist in the game. 

Cameron Schmidt notched two goals for Canada in the first period. 

Luca Romano also netted two goals for the Canucks. 

Canada outshot Slovakia 44-28. 

Despite a quieter game, McKenna’s assist gave him four points (one goal, three assists) in the tournament so far. 

The rather unforgiving schedule (three games in three days) now sees the Canadians taking on Sweden tonight at 6:30 p.m. on TSN and RDS.