Goaltender Adrian Ignagni made 20 saves, including a dozen in the third period alone, as Canada East scored a 3-1 decision over Canada West.
The two squads faced off at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday (Nov. 3) in an exhibition game prior to the start of the World Junior A Challenge.
Prior to the third period, Ignagni only faced eight shots through the first 40 minutes while his team struck three times on goals from Ben Hutton, David Friedmann and Patrick Megannety.
But Evan Richardson scored with 4:12 remaining to ruin the shutout bid.
The tournament begins for real on Nov. 7 and runs all week at the LEC.
The gold medal game is Nov. 13 at 5 p.m.
In addition to the two Canadian squads, Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic and the United States have teams.
The U.S. is the three-time defending champion of the tournament.
Visit www.langleytimes.com for daily updates from the tournament.