Canada will play Czechia tonight, January 5th, at 6:30 pm EST for the World Junior Championship gold medal.
Canada vs. USA Semifinal Recap
Canada vs. USA, in hockey there is no rivalry more passionate. Seemingly inevitable deep in every tournament, whether it be for gold or soon before. These two programs can’t seem to get out of each other’s way. When they clash on the ice there’s literally blood, sweat, and tears each and every time.
1st Period
The red, white, and blue started of the game with a bang. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s own Logan Cooley corralled a blocked shot and rifled it off a skate and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Not even 10 minutes later, the US doubled their lead off the stick of Kenny Connors who tapped in a rebound off the pad of Milic. Suddenly things didn’t look so good for Canada.
Canada’s saviour, Connor Bedard answers a little over a minute later:
2nd Period
Canada comes out of the locker room flying and score 46 seconds into the 2nd period to tie the game at 2.
Fantilli then gave Canada the lead, showing pure confidence after the intermission and there was no looking back from there for boys from the Great White North.
3rd Period
The game ended 6-2 as Canada seemingly dominated the contest, but it didn’t really go that way. The United States won the shot battle 45-37, had 10 minutes on the power play to Canada’s 6 and were almost even in time in the offensive zone and time in possession.
The difference?
Thomas Milic
The only undrafted player on Canada’s World Junior roster was the star of the night. Milic made 43 saves including some ridiculous game saving momentum stops. Including this breakaway, blocker save to keep the game tied:
Here’s another look:
If that save wasn’t enough for you, how about TM showing off the glove on the 2-on-1:
Or this weird deflection off of his pad and out in front of the net, which he somehow stopped:
Milic generated praise from Canada’s WJ all-time goal leader, Connor Bedard. “He was unbelievable,” said Bedard. “Without him, I don’t know if we win.”
2 Goals Overturned for USA
Here’s the first one:
In my bias opinion:
But you be the judge because from what I saw the US media really didn’t like the call:
The second goal disallowance was far less controversial considering a US player forced a covered puck from under Milic’s pad and into the back of the net because the referee refused to blow the whistle from some reason unbeknownst to me:
Gold Medal Matchup vs. Czechia Preview
Of course Canada’s only loss of the tournament so far came at the hands of the team that they will need to overcome tonight if they want to bring home the country’s 20th WJC gold medal.
In their previous matchup with the Czech Republic, Canada fell 5-2 but dominated on the puck. They spent the majority of the game threatening Czech goalie Thomas Suchanek who stopped 36 with a 94% stoppage rate.
Canada on the other hand experienced serious goalie troubles, starting Benjamin Gaudreau who allowed 5 goals on just 17 shots on goal, just a 70% rate. Since then Thomas Milic has essentially overtaken the starting position and dominated when needed.
Expect a completely different game from both sides, Canada have been on a mission since this loss and Czechia have looked much less threatening and seemingly haven’t found that level they reached against Canada since.
Betting lines
Canada is -1400 moneyline to win according to DraftKings. In my opinion that’s flat-out insanity considering the recent result and I will be keeping my money.
A much more approachable line if you’re an overconfident Canadian would be puckline, Canada (-3.5) according to FanDuel (-120). While a 4-goal deficit is a lot, this is a truly different Canadian team than it was just 4 games ago.
Canada are coming off a 4-goal win over the highly touted United States team, which essentially crumbled to a 6-unanswered goal comeback. A comeback which brings Canada into this final matchup with much more confidence.
One bet I will certainly be making is over 7 goals, which is -103 according to BetRivers.
(Photo Credit: The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese)