Joshua Roy scored two goals and assisted two goals to lead his team to victory. The Montreal Canadiens shared their team’s first two successes and then scored an important goal in the second period.
Roy closed the game into an empty net, tying Jonathan Huberdeau for the most points scored by a Quebec hockey player in this tournament.
The brilliance of the Sherbrooke Phoenix player allowed Canada to return to the tournament final. The defending champions will battle Thursday with the Czech Republic, who defeated Dennis Williams’ squad as a curtain-raiser.
Connor Bedard, Logan Stankoven, Adam Fantelli and Brandt Clark each scored a goal and an assist for the Canadians who won the gold medal against the Finns last August.
Goalkeeper Tomas Milic guarded the bulwark for Junior Canada and stepped up after his team trailed by two goals. He stops 43 balls.
Logan Cooley and Kenny Connors flashed the red light for the USA who will take on Sweden for the bronze medal.
Young Trey Augustine did a good job early in the game, but the Canadian offense found a way to outwit him. The American guard, who is eligible for the next entry, finished the duel with 31 saves.
Slowly but surely
The Americans calmed the crowd’s excitement after only 79 seconds of play, as Ryan Ufko’s point shot hit Cooley, who took the puck at his feet to beat Milic between the playing platforms. The Canadian goaltender appeared to lose sight of the puck in the sequence.
Canada had a great chance to tie the game when Dylan Duke earned a penalty, but despite some good shooting, Augustine and the USA held their ground.
The shorthanded Americans’ good work was rewarded a few minutes later when Connors escaped from Ethan Del Mastro’s cover to pounce on a layup return and double the Americans’ lead.
But Del Mastro redeemed himself just over a minute later when he sent a superb pass to Bedard, who redirected the ball up the net.
The Canada Juniors came out of the locker room with a knife in their teeth and took just 47 seconds to tie the score in the second period. Brandt Clarke advanced to take a snap, then the return landed on the blade of Stankoven’s stick, which hit the mark.
The two rivals exchanged a great opportunity to score without taking advantage of it. Fantilli hit the upright with a timed one, while Chaz Lucius frustrated Milic on the breakaway.
However, Fantilli recovered moments later and found the right moment to score his first goal of the tournament. And soon the young striker accepted a wonderful cross from Zak Dean to thwart Augustine.
The Americans thought they had put both teams back to square one, but Jackson Blake’s goal was disallowed after a review due to Milic’s obstruction. Canada wasn’t asking for that much.
The Bedard-Stankoven-Roy trio is back in action again. This time, it was hopeful the Montreal Canadiens recovered a loose puck before placing a backhand into the porthole.
At the start of the third frame, for the second time in the match, the Americans’ celebrations were stopped by the referees after Rutger McGararty pushed the ball into the net.
A video replay confirmed that the Winnipeg Jets illegally pushed Milic’s board to cause the handicap.
The Maple Leaf representatives took advantage of this opportunity to deal a heavy blow to their opponents. Owen Peake and Fantelli set up the goal for Clarke, who inherited a loose disc in the hole to hook the needle.
Czech Republic, first world junior finalist
Earlier today, the Czech Republic reached the tournament final with a 2-1 overtime victory over Sweden.
After sending the game into overtime with 38 seconds left in the third period, the Czechs prevailed on a Jiri Kulich goal with only 50 seconds left in the penalty shootout.
David Jereczek earlier scored the equalizing goal. The two top scorers in the Czech camp both play in the American Hockey League.
From the second minute of play in the middle of the period, Ludwig Jansson gave Sweden the controls with his fourth Junior World Championship success.
The two teams faced each other on two occasions during the tournament. Both games require additional time. During the group stage, Sweden won 3-2 thanks to a goal from Jansson.
This will be the Czech Republic’s first match in the final since 2001, when they defeated Finland.
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