Familiar foes will be at it again as Canada and Finland will meet for gold at the 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday.
The teams have split the past two meetings, with Finland winning in 2019 and Canada answering back in 2021.
Canada has been in the finals a record 15 times, with Finland sitting at 13 with the result today. Canada has the most medals all-time with 51, and if they win gold, they’ll have sole possession over Russia for first.Â
Finland has won three golds in 68 previous tournaments, with its other wins coming in 1995 and 2011. Finland has a chance to become the first team since Sweden in 2006 to win the men’s Olympic and World Championship tournaments in the same season.
Finland won its meeting with USA 4-3, with Miro Heiskanen, Sakari Manninen, Sami Vatanen and Joel Armia combining for the goals. Nate Schmidt scored the opening goal for USA at 1:04 and Sean Farrell and Adam Gaudette added other markers, but a late American charge proved to end in futility as Jussi Olkinuora shut the door in the closing stages.
Canada won its semifinal 6-1, overcoming a slow first period that saw them surrender the first goal to David Krejci. Dylan Cozens scored with 33 seconds left in the first, while Adam Lowry, Kent Johnson and Mathew Barzal scored within a three-minute span to make it 4-1 just after the halfway point of the game. Cole Sillinger’s third period goal made it 5-1 and Cozens scored another to make it 6-1 to close things out.
The gold medal game will begin at 1:20 PM ET on Sunday, with the bronze medal game between USA and Czechia taking place at 8:20 AM.
