TAMPERE, Finland
Canada and Finland won the semi-final matches on Saturday to establish a third consecutive gold medal match between the teams at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
Finland won gold in 2019 in Slovakia, the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the pandemic, and Canada won gold last year in Latvia. This time, Finland will have ice at home for Sunday’s championship match at the Nokia Arena.
“We know the building will go well and the Finns are playing for gold at home,” said Canadian striker Dylan Cozens. “But we must try to have a strong start and not let (Finland) create momentum from its followers.”
Cozens scored two goals and one assist in Canada’s 6-1 victory over the Czech Republic. Finland beat the United States 4-3 in the other semifinal.
Canada went away scoring three goals in a period of three minutes and 19 seconds in the middle of the second period. Kent Johnson’s goal came between power goals from Adam Lowry and Matt Barzal.
“The Czechs have been good in the penalty shootout and we have been able to take advantage of a few power plays tonight,” said Canadian head coach Claude Julien. “We will take a moment and study the penitentiary in Finland, and we hope that it will come with a solution as we could do against the Czechs.
“We know Finland is strong in special teams and that’s why we look forward to a difficult match tomorrow night.”
David Krejci opened the scoring for Czech and Cozens tied the game at the end of the first period. Drake Batherson made two assists for Canada.
Cole Sillinger had an insurance goal for the Canadians, who beat the Czech Republic 35-26. Canadian goalkeeper Chris Dreidger made 25 saves.
“Tomorrow in front of the (Finnish fans), there will be a bit of adversity and we will have to fight,” said Canadian striker Pierre-Luc Dubois. “We have a lot of confidence in ourselves and we know what we’re capable of.”
The Americans will play the Czech Republic for bronze on Sunday.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 28, 2022.