World Cup in U20 hockey: Another miracle did not happen. Czech hockey players fight for bronze – ŠPORT.SK

today 06:57 | The hockey players of Canada and Finland have advanced to the finals of the WC under-20 players in Edmonton. The home Canadians beat the Czech Republic 5:2 in the semi-finals, the Finns narrowly won the Nordic derby 1:0 over Sweden. The fight for gold is scheduled for Sunday at 2:00 CET, the duel for third place will be played on Saturday at 10:00 CET. You could watch the DUEL Canada – Czech Republic ONLINE at Šport.sk << UPDATED 8:49 O HLASY In the match against the Czech Republic, Canada made progress in the first period, in which they built up a two-goal lead. In the second, the favorite added two more accurate hits and already led 4:0. The Czechs won with a goal only at the beginning of the final ten minutes, when Jan Myšák and Michal Gut reduced the score to 2:4 within 110 seconds. In the 55th minute, however, Joshua Roy finally sealed the progress of Canada, whose 31 saves helped the progress of goalkeeper Dylan Garand. Kent Johnson had a goal and two assists, defender Olen Zellweger was involved in three of his team's hits. "Javorové listy" last enjoyed the title in 2020, they have a record 18 championships from the World Cup. The Czechs knocked out the defending champions from the USA in the quarterfinals. The Canadians will appear in the World Cup 20 final for the fifth time in six years. "It's great to be in the final, but the hardest work is still ahead of us. We have to rest well, recover and be ready to fight for the title," said goalkeeper Garand. After reducing the difference to two goals, the Czechs still threw their forces into attack, but finally conceded. "In the end, we went into it with the idea that if we had scored a contact goal to make it 3:4, it would have been even more dramatic. It didn't work out, but I think our players left everything there," he praised according to idnes.cz team performance of Czech coach Radim Rulík. In the battle for bronze, his men will try for the first shot at a medal after 17 years. They last enjoyed third place in 2005. In the final, the Finns will have a chance to repeat their "golden" championship from 2019. In the dramatic semi-final, they managed to beat Sweden thanks to the only goal scored by Kasper Puutio in the 26th minute. Goalkeeper Juha Jatkola shone with a clean sheet with 23 saves. The Swedes also had support in the goal, Jesper Wallstedt stopped 27 opponent shots. The Finns have won the Junior World Championship five times so far (1987, 1998, 2014, 2016, and 2019), and they will meet Canada for the first time in the fight for gold. "It's unbelievable. We have a great group of guys. Many of us have been playing together for six years and now I can't even describe my feelings. It will be hard to sleep, but we will be ready to fight for the gold," the author of the goal Puutio told the official IIHF website. Swedish captain Emil Andrae did not hide his disappointment: "It's a difficult loss. We didn't get much space in our attacking zone. It was a one-goal duel, we could have won the matches anyway." WC under-20 players in Edmonton-semi-finals: Canada - Czech Republic 5:2 (2:0, 2:0, 1:2) Goals: 11. Johnson (Stankoven, Foerster), 16. Bedard (Gaucher, Cuylle), 32 . 0:0, 0:1, 0:0) Goal: 26. Puutio (Räty, Niemelä) next program of the WC under 20 years /times are in SELČ/: Saturday, August 20 - match for 3rd place: 22.00 Czech Republic - Sweden Sunday, August 21-final: 2.00 Canada - Finland