France men’s ice hockey Nations Cup opener loss to Norway, Digi Mart USA News (Amiens, France): France’s men’s ice hockey team opened its European Nations Cup campaign with a narrow 2-1 defeat to Norway on Thursday evening at the Coliseum in Amiens. The result was reported by GazetteSports, which described the opener as a celebratory first night at the venue.
Norway, ranked 11th in the world and a surprise bronze medalist at the most recent world championships after beating Canada in the bronze medal game, was considered the toughest opponent in France’s group. Coach Yorick Treille’s side is scheduled to face Slovenia and Hungary later in the tournament.
France started aggressively and took the lead early, with Justin Addamo scoring at 0:54 of the first period, assisted by Tomas Simonsen and Jordann Perret. Norway responded in the fifth minute when Patrick Elvsveen converted a pass from Eirik Østem Salsten to level the score at 1-1.
The middle period was balanced, with both teams exchanging attacks without a major advantage. Norway began to control play in the second period, earning a power play after a penalty on Mony, but France’s defense held and limited the visitors to deflected shots.
In the third period, Norway went ahead when Mathias Emilio Pettersen finished a rebound at 50:09, assisted by Mikkel Øbby-Olsen and Petter Vesterheim. France pushed in the final minutes but could not find an equalizer, and the Blues lost by a single goal.
