Canada survives Finns to earn rematch with U.S.

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HOCKEY CANADA ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

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Marchand’s Goal Leads Canada Into Semi-Final In Win Over Finland

by Alan Adams

PARDUBICE, Czech Republic – Canada is heading to the medal round of the IIHF World Junior Championship for a 10th consecutive year.

Brad Marchand (Hammonds Plains, NS/Halifax, QMJHL) scored midway through the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and Canada beat Finland 4-2 in their quarterfinal on Wednesday.

"It is just a great feeling," defenceman Drew Doughty (London, ON/Guelph, OHL) said after the game.

The Canadians will now meet the United States in a semi-final on Friday in a rematch of the '07 semi, which Canada won in a dramatic shootout on the road to its third straight gold medal.

"I remember being in Guelph and we were all called off the practice rink to go into the dressing room to watch the shootout," said Doughty. "Even though I wasn't there, it was such a proud feeling to be a Canadian."

The Finns and Canadians were tied heading into the final period and they traded goals before the Canadians pulled away.

Marchand's wrist shot went off a defender's stick and sailed past Finnish netminder Harri Sateri at 10:32 for the winning goal and Stefan Legein (Oakville, ON/Niagara, OHL) iced the win when he scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left in the game with Sateri on the bench for an extra attacker.

The Finns opened the scoring when Juuso Puustinen fooled Canadian goaltender Steve Mason (Oakville, ON/London, OHL), making it look like he was going to dump the puck into the Canadian before ripping a long wrist shot past Mason at 7:23 of the opening period.

John Tavares (Oakville, ON/Oshawa, OHL) knotted the score on a power play in the second period, beating Sateri with a high wrist shot from in close for his fourth goal of the tournament.

"My job is to produce offence," said Tavares.

Steve Stamkos (Unionville, ON/Sarnia, OHL) put the Canadian ahead at 2:20 on the third when he jammed the puck Sateri. Doughty set up the scoring play on a superb offensive rush and a smart pass to his teammate.

"I didn't want to rush the puck but when I saw the opening I decided to go," said Doughty. "I saw a white jersey out of the corner of my eye and Stammer got his stick on it."

The Finns tied it at 5:42 of the third period, as Jan-Mikael Juutilainen banked his centring pass off Mason and into the net, setting up Marchand’s heroics.

Canada has now beaten Finland six straight times at the World Juniors.

As the Canadian anthem was being played after the game, the Canadians started to look ahead.

"Two more, two more," said Legein, referring to the two victories Canada needs to mine gold for a fourth consecutive year.

"We can't think about the gold medal game," said Doughty. "Our focus is on the Americans. We love to beat them and they love to beat us. It is a great rivalry."

*** GAME SUMMARY: First Period Goals: 07:23 FIN 10 Juuso Puustinen (26 Niclas Lucenius 27 Jan-Mikael Juutilainen)

Penalties: 04:22 CAN 15 Luke Schenn (Tripping-2 minutes) 14:20 CAN 28 Claude Giroux (Charging-2 minutes) 18:41 FIN 8 Mikko Kousa (Roughing-2 minutes)

Second Period Goals: 07:23 CAN 20 John Tavares (10 Steven Stamkos 2 Josh Godfrey) PP

Penalties: 04:11 FIN 4 Miko Malkamaki (Interference-2 minutes) 06:47 FIN 27 Jan-Mikael Juutilainen (Interference-2 minutes)

Third Period Goals: 02:20 CAN 10 Steven Stamkos (8 Drew Doughty ) 05:42 FIN 27 Jan-Mikael Juutilainen 10:32 CAN 17 Brad Marchand (8 Drew Doughty 19 Kyle Turris) 19:30 CAN 7 Stefan Legein EN

Penalties: 10:55 FIN 4 Miko Malkamaki (Interference-2 minutes) 17:05 FIN 26 Niclas Lucenius (High Sticking-2 minutes)

Goaltenders Canada 30 Steve Mason Finland 30 Harri Sateri Shots on Goal Canada 11-9-12-32 Finland 6-6-11-23 Player of Game Canada 8 Drew Doughty Finland 27 Jan-Mikael Juutilainen

Officials Referee LARKING CHRISTER (SWE), RONNMARK Ulf (SWE) Lines People BLUMEL Petr (CZE), MASIK Milan (SVK) ****************************

Canada advances to World Junior semis with win over Finland

By Aaron Bell

Brad Marchand of the Halifax Mooseheads scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to help Canada to a 4-2 win over Finland in their quarter final game at the World Junior Championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic on Wednesday.

The win gives Canada a berth in the semi finals on Friday against the U.S.A.

Canada and the U.S. also met in the semi-finals last year with Canada winning in a shootout before going on to win their third straight gold medal.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Marchand, one of two Canadians that played in the tournament last year. “We’re going to have our best game if we’re going to beat them. We’re really looking forward to it.”

The U.S. skated to a perfect 4-0-0 record in the preliminary round to earn a bye into the semi-finals.

“Obviously we haven’t seen them yet, but we know how good last year was and how awesome that win was for Canada,” said John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals, who put Canada on the board with his fourth goal of the tournament midway through the second period.

“We have to prepare like every other game,” Tavares said. “We know they are very offensive and have a lot of talent. We’ll just make sure that we are ready to go and just play our style of game.”

Finland opened the scoring early in the first period on Wednesday when Juuso Puustinen fired a wrist shot that caught Canadian goaltender Steve Mason of the London Knights by surprise and caught the top corner for his fourth goal of the tournament.

After Canada failed to score in the first period, Tavares evened the game with a powerplay marker early in the second. He picked up the puck on the side boards and fired a wrist shot from the face-off circle that beat Finnish goalie Harri Sateri to the short side.

“I think we knew that eventually we were going to be able to break through and that they weren’t going to be able to handle our speed,” Tavares said.

Steven Stamkos of the Sarnia Sting gave Canada the lead early in the third period when he finished off a great individual effort by defenceman Drew Doughty of the Guelph Storm. Doughty picked up the puck in the Canadian zone and eluded three Finnish defenders before dishing the puck to Stamkos at the side of the net.

“Offensively, I thought this was probably our strongest game,” said Canadian coach Craig Hartsburg of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. “We were getting chances. We just had to stay positive and stay with it. There were times when our kids got a little frustrated but at the end of the day they got it done. We’ve got to build on that.”

Finland tied the game midway through the third period when Jan-Mikael Juutilainen banked in a shot from behind the net off of Canadian goaltender Steve Mason of the London Knights.

Marchand put Canada ahead when he wired a wrist shot from the face-off circle and then Stefan Legein of the Niagara IceDogs iced the win with an empty-netter in the final minute of the game.

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