Canada and Germany will play for gold at the 2023 World Hockey Championship on Sunday after tight victories on semifinal Saturday.
Canada has advanced to the title game for the seventh time over the past eight years. They last won in 2021 against Finland, but lost in 2019 and 2022, also to Finland.
Germany, meanwhile, has never won gold and has never advanced to the tournament’s championship game. They have won silver before, but that was in 1930 when they didn’t have a playoff format. They trailed 2-0 early against USA, who entered the game with a perfect 8-0 record.
Puck drop is set for 1:20 PM ET on Sunday, May 28.
The first period was rather close between Canada and Latvia, with Canada outshooting their opponents 9-7. But the Latvians scored first, with Boston Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis beating Samuel Montembeault to give Latvia a surprising 1-0 advantage early.
That score lasted until 35:32, when Peyton Krebs sent a bouncing puck toward Samuel Blais, who converted to make it 1-1. But just over a minute later, Rudolfs Balcers forced a turnover and his shot went under Montembeault’s left arm and in to restore the one-goal advantage.
The Canadians needed a quick goal in the third to take back the momentum, and it worked. At 40:45, Jack Quinn took Lawson Crouse’s feed behind the goal line and shot the puck off of Arturs Silovs’ mask and in, somehow getting the puck in. Then, with Canada taking full control of the momentum, Adam Fantilli finally scored his first goal of the tournament on a beautiful play to make it 3-2, giving Canada its only lead. It lasted until the very end, ending Latvia’s dream run to the championship game.
The Americans got off to a great start in the late afternoon game, scoring twice before the four-minute mark. Alex Tuch and Rocco Grimaldi had a pair of points each on their respective goals to give their team some early life.
But a pair of goals in the final half of the opening frame changed everything. First, Frederik Tiffels tipped in Daniel Fischbuch’s shot in front of Casey DeSmith to make it 2-1 at 12:22. Less than four minutes later, Maksymilian Szuber’s shot went just under the crossbar and in past DeSmith’s right arm to make it 2-2.
That lead lasted until 8:47 in the second. Michael Eyssimont got denied twice by German keeper Mathias Niederberger, but Eyssimont got a third, and effective, whack at it to make it 3-2. It looked like the score was going to stay, but Marcel Noebels scored with just over a minute to go in regulation to force overtime.
In the extra frame, which mirrored the previous meeting between the two teams in this tournament this year, Tiffels scored late to win the game, giving Germany their first lead of the game – and at the most important time.
Latvia and USA will play for bronze earlier in the day, with puck drop set for 8:20 AM ET. Latvia has never played for a medal in their history, while Germany will chase their fourth after last taking bronze in 1934.
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