Canada downs Germany to win world hockey championship gold medal
Canada can call themselves the holders of the men’s world hockey championship once again.
On Sunday in Tampere, Finland, Canada topped Germany by a 4-2 score to win the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, a record 28th gold medal at the tournament.
Sammy Blais scored a pair of goals for Canada on the day, including the go-ahead goal in the third period to give the gold medallists their first lead of the day.
SAMMY BLAIS DOES IT AGAIN!
Canada with the 3-2 lead! pic.twitter.com/wzX1zcYmDp
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 28, 2023
Tyler Toffoli topped it off with an insurance goal late in the third to double Canada’s lead before Scott Laughton added an empty net goal in the final two minutes of the game to put a bow on the victory.
Despite the gold medal win, things didn’t come easy for the heavily favoured Canadians heading into the matchup. Canada fell behind both 1-0 and 2-1, though they equalled up both scores and added fourth straight goals to close out the win.
Canada lost just one game in the tournament, a shocking 3-2 loss to Switzerland on May 20 in the round-robin. They defeated Finland 4-1 in the quarterfinals before defeating the feisty Latvian side 4-2 in the semifinals to earn their berth in the gold medal game once again.
The medal was just Germany’s third in their history, as they’d last finished second in the tournament as West Germany back in 1953.
While Canada had been in each of the three previous gold medal games against Finland, it was the first one since 2019 that didn’t go to overtime.
Canada won the 2021 edition of the tournament with an overtime victory over the Finns while falling to Finland in the 2022 gold medal game in the extra frame.
Latvia won the bronze medal earlier in the day, topping the United States by a 4-3 score in overtime by the way of Kristans Rubins’ game-winning goal.
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