Adamo Marinelli
January 4, 2022
Team Canada scored six unanswered goals to overcome an early 2-0 deficit to defeat rival USA 6-2 and will advance to their fourth consecutive IIHF World Juniors Gold Medal game.
Canada will play Czechia for a chance to be the first team to repeat as Gold Medal Champions since Canada did five consecutive times from 2005 to 2009. They will also have a chance to exact revenge on Czechia, the only team to beat Canada at this tournament. Czechia beat Canada 5-2 in the opening group stage game.
Forward Connor Bedard has been excellent for Canada at this tournament with nine goals and 14 assists (23 points) in six games. He scored or assisted on 65 percent of Canada’s goals at the 2023 World Juniors - including a goal and an assist tonight against the US - and has the record for most career goals and points at the World Juniors by any Canadian and most goals and points in a single tournament by any Canadian.
However, there are many other talented players who have stepped up in big moments at this tournament including Joshua Roy -who scored two goals and two assists (four points) tonight against the US-, Adam Fantili, Logan Stankoven, Zach Dean, Dylan Guenther, Zack Ostapchuk, Shane Wright and Owen Zellwegger among others.
The United States capitalized on Canada’s slow start and dominated the first 10 minutes of the first period. They spent almost all of it in the offensive zone, controlled the pace of the game, dominated possession, and outshot Canada.
Talented prospect Logan Cooley - who sits seventh in the all-time US point leaders at the World Juniors with 19 and who has six goals and 12 points at this tournament - gave the United States an early 1-0 lead with an excellent shot right off the faceoff. The United States continued its dominance by expanding its lead midway through the first period. Kenny Connors controlled a rebound off a Charlie Stramel point shot and tucked it past Thomas Milic. The US had a 2-0 lead, but Canada did not give up; after trailing 2-0, Canada really found their footing and began to swing the momentum in their favour.
Less than 90 seconds after the US went up 2-0, Ethan Del Mastro controlled the puck off a faceoff win by Roy and made a beautiful cross-ice, centering pass that found the stick of Bedard in the crease. Bedard cut the US’s lead in half while scoring his ninth goal of the tournament.
Canadian goaltender Thomas Milic was sensational once again, making 43 saves on 45 US shots. Many of those saves came at crucial times to keep Canada in the game.
Canada wasn’t very sharp offensively late in the first period or midway through the second
period, but Milic made several excellent saves on Grade-A quality chances from up close against some of the best shooters at the tournament to keep Canada in the game and allow them to come back. Milic needed to be sharp at numerous stages of the game and he was.
He was also very sharp in the first half of the third period when the United States was pressing to make the game closer. The US was getting several quality scoring chances early in the third period and was pressing in the offensive zone. Milic was particularly excellent making four saves on a penalty kill early in the third period to maintain Canada’s 4-2 lead.
In addition, the United States dominated the offensive zone time, outshot Canada 45-37 in total, and by larger margins early in the game, had 29 scoring chances to Canada’s 17, and had 24 shots from inside the slot compared to Canada’s 17 according to Sportlogiq. Milic had to be sharp all game and he was. If it weren’t for Milic, Canada wouldn’t have had the chance to get
back into the game, let alone win.
Canada’s offense really got going less than one minute into the second period. Roy took a shot from the slot and collected his own rebound before finding Logan Stankoven - who crashed the net and was left unmarked on the doorstep - who buried his third goal of the tournament to tie the game 2-2.
Canada wasn’t done yet. Nearly five minutes later, they took their first lead of the night. Zach Dean used his speed to gain the zone to chase down a loose puck and made a move to get around a defender before making a beautiful cross-ice pass which found the stick of Adam Fantilli who buried it top-shelf to put Canada in front 3-2.
Midway through the second period, the US appeared to tie the game 3-3, but the goal was ruled out after it was determined the US player made slight contact with Milic in the crease before scoring. It was a questionable call for sure and could’ve gone either way, but the IIHF goaltender interference rules are more strict than the NHL’s.
A few minutes later, Canada had another brief spell of offensive dominance, spending lots of time in the offensive zone and getting quality offensive scoring chances. Joshua Roy scored his first goal of the game to give Canada a 4-2 lead with over 7:30 minutes left in the second period. Roy controlled a pass from Stankoven before cutting through a pair of US defencemen and seamlessly switching from forehand to backhand to lift the puck over US goaltender Tre Augustine’s shoulder.
Less than one minute into the third period, the US controlled the puck directly off the faceoff. Forward Rutger McGroarty followed up his initial shot on goal by tapping in what appeared to be a loose puck, however, it was determined after review that the puck was covered under Milic’s pad before it was tapped in during the ensuing scrum and it was ruled out. The game remained 4-2 for Canada.
Almost halfway through the third period, Canada expanded their lead to three goals. Brandt
Clarke jumped on Adam Fantili’s rebound and iced the game with a beautiful wrist shot that found the top shelf. After going up three goals, Canada focused on defending so the United States controlled the last few minutes of the game offensively creating several quality scoring chances from dangerous areas but Milic could not be beaten and made several huge saves to seal the victory.
Roy scored his second goal of the game into an empty net on the penalty kill to give Canada a 6-2 lead and ultimately the semifinal victory.
Even though the scoreline read 6-2, the game was a lot closer than it appeared and the US was dominant offensively. A masterclass from Milic played a massive role in Canada’s win.
Canada will have the chance to pull an Argentina in the 2022 World Cup, winning it all after losing their first group stage game.
However, Czechia is a very talented hockey team on both sides of the puck and Canada will have their work cut out for them, knowing that their opponent in the gold medal game has been the only team to beat them at the tournament. All the pressure to win will be on Canada, not Czechia. Only time will tell who will win the gold medal, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.
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