Friday, January 06, 2006
Canada-Russia ~ World Junior Hockey
Canada-Russia showdown
for gold in world junior hockey tournament
Canada -WorldJuniorHockey1
Canada -WorldJuniorHockey1
04/01/2006 1:48:00 AM
VANCOUVER (CP)
VANCOUVER (CP)
Canada is making a habit of playing in the final of the world junior hockey championship and the 2006 team wants the country to start making a habit out of winning them again.
Canada beat Finland 4-0 in the semifinals Tuesday to advance to the gold-medal game against Russia, a 5-1 winner over the United States, on Thursday (TV, 7 p.m. ET). Canada will be going for gold in the world under-20 men's championship for the fifth straight year - four of them against Russia, including a 6-1 win last winter in Grand Forks, N.D.
The last back-to-back world junior titles for Canada were in 1996 and 1997, when the country capped a run of five straight.
"The whole country is watching and everyone is counting on us," said forward Blake Comeau. "There's also that pressure in the dressing room so, obviously, it's going to be a huge game for us.
"I think everyone is going to be disappointed if we don't end up getting what we want."
The Americans and the Finns play for bronze Thursday (TV, 3 p.m. ET).
Comeau scored a pivotal goal late in the second period to give Canada breathing space against Finland. Kris Russell of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Andrew Cogliano of the University of Michigan and Kris Letang of the Val-d'Or Foreurs scored for a Canadian team that dominated on defence.
Justin Pogge of the Calgary Hitmen stopped 19 shots for his second shutout of the tournament.
This Canadian team plays an aggressively defensive game for head coach Brent Sutter as last year's team also did under him.
Canada has given up six goals in its five games so far and only one of them was an even-strength goal.
"We've got a good chance of winning if we play the way that we have to and not give teams a whole lot," Comeau said.
Canada was the more rested team Tuesday because it had a bye to the semifinal, while Finland had less than 20 hours to recover from a 1-0 overtime win over Sweden on Monday when goaltender Tuuka Rask, a Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick, made 53 saves.
"We're disappointed, but not so much as some would think," Rask said. "Canada was the favourite heading into this game."
Canada fired 43 shots at Rask and pressured the Finns above the Canadian blue-line. The Finns were worn down by Canada's hard checks, including a couple of thunderbolts by defenceman Luc Bourdon, a Canucks draft pick, to the delight of the Vancouver crowd.
Michael Blunden steamrolled Erkka Leppanen behind the Finns' net early in the first period and Leppanen got up slowly after he was decked by Ryan O'Marra in the third period. O'Marra also hammered Tommi Leinonen midway through the third.
Rask held the Canadians off as long as he could, but the defence in front of him began to collapse. Russell scored late in the first and Comeau late in the second to give Canada momentum heading into the final period.
"You always want to come into the dressing room on a positive note and I thought we did a good job," Russell said. "We didn't get what we wanted right away but, if you just keep working hard, we did a good job of that and we were able to get those goals."
Finland took penalties out of fatigue, but Canada wasn't able to convert seven man-up chances in the first 40 minutes before Letang's power-play goal in the third.
Canadian penalty killers looked after the other side of the ledger and Finland didn't score on seven opportunities.
Cogliano, a speedster who has struggled scoring in this tournament, ended his drought by streaking down the wing and beating Rask over his shoulder with a high shot to cap the scoring at 13:32 of the third.
"It was good for me to get that goal and get some confidence," Cogliano said. "I can carry that confidence into the gold-medal game."
Pogge assisted on that goal and had GM Place chanting his name. Attendance was announced at a capacity 18,630, but there were several empty seats for a game that started at 4 p.m. local time.
Dustin Boyd provided some traffic for Letang's shot from the blue-line, that beat Rask glove-side to make it 3-0 for Canada at 9:40 of the third.
Comeau said Canada's goal was to get more traffic in front of Rask than the Swedes did and capitalize on second and third chances, which he did on his goal.
The New York Islanders draft pick caged his own rebound on a Marc Staal shot from the blue-line and waited for Rask to commit low before putting the puck around his outstretched pad to make it 2-0 at 18:58 of the second period.
Canada kept the Finns to the outside when they attacked. Pogge was in the right spot when Ryan Parent turned the puck over in front of him midway through the second period and Petteri Wirtanen got a quick shot away.
The Canadians wanted to take advantage of the Finland's short recovery and get on them early, but it wasn't until 18:16 that Russell broke the tension with the crucial first goal.
Benoit Pouliot found Boyd on the opposite boards and Boyd drove in on Rask's right, while Blunden cruised up the left. Russell, trailing the play, moved all alone into the slot and made good on Canada's first unchallenged shot of the period.
Canada went undefeated at 4-0-0 during the preliminary round and earned the bye to the semifinal by finishing first in Group A. Canada had opened the preliminary round with a 5-1 win over Finland on Dec. 26. Finland finished third in in Group A with a 2-2 record.
CP Player of the Game: Justin Pogge, who made 19 saves for the shutout. He made a huge save in the second period when Canada was up 1-0, had an assist, and made a lot of long, heads-up passes to get the puck out of Canada's zone.
Canada -WorldJuniorHockey 2
