Team Canada staves off Finland comeback to win World Juniors gold in OT
In a few ways, it was a typical World Juniors: Canada completed their destiny as pre-tournament favourites to win the gold medal on home ice.
On Saturday night, Canada topped Finland by a 3-2 score to win their record 19th gold medal at the World Juniors at Edmonton’s Rogers Place with an overtime win.
The highlight of the night came from Mason McTavish, who saved Canada’s bacon in OT with a remarkable out-of-the-air bat.
McTavish bats the puck out of the air in overtime to keep Canadaās gold medal hopes alive, absolutely incredible š¤Æ pic.twitter.com/bP2LCnDmCI
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) August 21, 2022
Finland was heavily penalized on the night, serving seven minor penalties to Canada’s just one.
Canada outscored their opponents 27-7 in the preliminary round, and 14-7 in the playoffs.
But as we’ve touched on previously, in many other ways, it was anything but a normal event.
Rescheduled from the summer due to a COVID-19 outbreak last December in the first run of the tournament, low attendances were common throughout the event. A crowd of 13,327 came through on the night, by far the highest of the tournament.
High ticket prices were coupled with both summer apathy towards hockey as well as a loathe for Hockey Canada amid multiple recent sexual assault allegations levied towards former members of the World Juniors team.
Russia was missing due to an IIHF ban on the country in international competition as a result of the country’s military presence in Ukraine, and Canada didn’t end up playing a single match against either Sweden or the United States.
It might’ve been one of Canada’s best performances on paper at a World Juniors, but it sure had a weird aura around it.
World Juniors gold medal game goals
Here’s the overtime winner from Kent Johnson:
Canada generates a turnover in the neutral zone and gets the OT goal to win the World Junior Championship pic.twitter.com/TEk4jDoGiv
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) August 21, 2022
Canada scored the first two goals of the game, before Finland stormed back with two in the third period to tie it up.
JOSHUA ROY PUTS CANADA ON THE BOARD! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/UacP7Z2yCX
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 21, 2022
William Dufour then added a second goal for Canada early into the second period.
WILLIAM.DUFOUR.
Canada strikes again 41 seconds into the 2nd! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/9jdmMXYbud
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 21, 2022
Aleksi Heimosalmi scored Finland’s first goal of the night early into the third period.
Aleksi Heimosalmi puts Finland on the board with 15 left to play! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/7ObAbKxpYg
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 21, 2022
Joakim Kemell then erased the lead entirely with a little over five minutes left.
JOAKIM KEMELL TIES IT UP WITH 9 MINUTES TO GO! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/QswMJM3St4
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 21, 2022
The 2023 edition of the tournament is a little over four months away, kicking off on December 26 in Moncton and Halifax. Perhaps that tournament will have a little better vibes than this one, which always just felt a little off, despite one heck of a finish.
More to come…
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