Canada can aim to defend its title at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Tampere. Thanks to a commanding 6-1 win in the semifinals against the Czech Republic, last year’s world champion moved into the World Cup final. As in 2019 and 2021, the opponent on Sunday is Finland (7:20 p.m., live on SRF Zwei).
In contrast to the spectacular 4:3 victory in the quarter-finals against Sweden, the “Ahornblatt” were able to lean back in the duel with the Czech Republic in the final third. At the latest after Cole Sillinger’s 5:1 (44 th ) the resistance of the East Europeans was broken and the world champion’s third final in a row was only a matter of form.
Czech Republic not efficient enough
After a good start, Canada got themselves into trouble in the first third with various lack of discipline. The “maple leaves” spent no less than eight minutes in the penalty box in the early stages. That took revenge on the best power play of the title fights in the 8th minute: After a sugar pass from Lakers striker Roman Cervenka, David Krejci scored with a well-placed shot to make it 1-0 for the Czech Republic.
Despite two more power plays, the team of ex-SCB trainer Kari Jalonen could not extend the lead. 33 seconds before the end of the first section, Canada punished the lack of composure with the equalizer. The Czechs didn’t get the shot out of their own zone, which was punished by Dylan Cozens with the goal to make it 1-1.
Canada’s intermediate sprint in the middle third
In the 2nd third it was the Czech Republic, which put themselves in reserve with unnecessary penalties. After David Pastrnak was sent to the penalty box for a revenge foul, it was just 16 seconds before Adam Lowry scored to give the North Americans their first lead. The Winnipeg Jets forward expertly flipped the Czech goalie out.
Only 3:19 minutes later, Canada was already three lengths in front. First, Kent Johnson made it 3-1 (29th), then Matt Barzal scored the fourth goal for the defending champion with a well-placed shot into the high corner. The Czech team never recovered from this triple setback.