Friday was the semifinals of the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Canada 5, Czech Republic 2 — Kent Johnson (Columbus Blue Jackets) had a goal and two assists to help Canada advance to the championship for the third year in a row.
Logan Stankoven (Dallas Stars) had a goal and an assist and Olen Zellweger (Anaheim Ducks) had three assists for Canada, which won the championship in 2020 but lost to the United States in the final in 2021. Dylan Garrand (New York Rangers) made 30 saves.
Canada will play Finland in the championship game on Saturday (8 p.m. ET). The Czech Republic will play Sweden in the consolation game (4 p.m. ET).
“It’s really great, it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said forward Connor Bedard, who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. “I think the whole group, you can feel the energy in the room. We’re just so excited to have this opportunity.”
Jan Misak (Montreal Canadiens) and Michal Gut scored for the Czech Republic, which upset the USA in the quarterfinals. Tomas Suchanek allowed four goals on 26 shots before being replaced early in the third period by Pavel Kayan (Columbus Blue Jackets), who made eight saves.
“I think it was a good game by us,” Guth said. “They’re a pretty good team. They have a lot of good guys who have played in the American (Hockey) League or the NHL. I think we played well, but it’s over and we’ll be ready tomorrow.”
Johnson gave Canada a 1-0 lead 10:04 into the first period with his second goal of the tournament. His first also came against the Czech Republic in a 5-1 win in the preliminary round.
Bedard made it 2-0 at 15:20 with a glove shot from the left circle.
Stankoven scored on the power play to extend the lead to 3-0 at 11:28 of the second period. Johnson spun at the blue line and passed to Stankoven, who sped into the zone and beat Suchanek.
Mason McTavish (Anaheim Ducks) added another goal to make it 4-0 at 16:11. He leads the tournament with eight goals and 15 points.
“He played unreal throughout the tournament,” Johnson said. “Really dominant game. No doubt he is a great player. I think he’s just a good hockey player and he’s obviously burying his chances. He’s really good around the net, great feel for hitting. He really does everything.”
Maisak made it 4-1 at 10:54 of the third period when his shot deflected off the leg of Canadian defenseman Donovan Sebrango (Detroit Red Wings).
Guth then scored a power play goal to put the Czech Republic up 4-2 at 12:44, but Joshua Roy (Montreal Canadiens) answered at 14:26 for the 5-2 final.
Canadian forward Ridley Greig (Ottawa Senators), who sat out with an upper-body injury suffered in the first period against Switzerland in the quarterfinals, will not play in the championship game.
Finland 1, Sweden 0 — Kasper Puutio (Florida Panthers) scored and Juha Jatkola made 23 saves for Finland, which advances to play Canada in the championship game on Saturday (8 p.m. ET).
Jatkola was a surprise starter for Finland after Levi Merilainen (Ottawa Senators) started four of the first five games, including making 19 saves in a 5-2 win over Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“I think we were smart with the puck, we didn’t do anything fancy on the blue or red lines,” Puutio said. “That’s why we were able to control the game. And then when they got the pressure, we were really humble and blocked shots and really threw our hearts out there for the goalie. And Juha played a great match.”
Jesper Walstedt (Minnesota Wild) made 27 saves for Sweden, which will play the Czech Republic in the consolation game on Saturday (4 p.m. ET).
Puutio scored the only goal of the game on the power play at 5:18 of the second period. Topi Niemela (Toronto Maple Leafs) broke the puck out of Finland’s end and fed it to Aatu Ratti (New York Islanders), who sped into Sweden’s zone before throwing a pass to Puutio. The defensemen then knocked the puck off with their arm in the left circle for a face-off, cut to the net and beat Wallstedt.
The goal was Finland’s tournament-best 14th on the power play.
Sweden had a chance to tie the score late in the second period, but couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 lead with 1:34 left.
“They are a great team in the defensive zone,” said Sweden forward Liam Ogren (Minnesota Wild). “We tried our best to get inside but they kept us on the outside and we didn’t get the chances. It was really tough.”
Finland will compete in the championship for the first time since 2019, when they defeated the USA to win the gold medal.
“It’s amazing with this group of guys,” Puutio said. “I think we struggled for six years and faced some difficulties. It feels great right now. It will be hard to sleep, but we will be ready to go tomorrow.”
LNH.com writer Guillaume Lepage and NHL.com freelance correspondent Derek Van Diest contributed to this report
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