Canada will play for gold at the world junior hockey championship in Edmonton after beating Russia 5-0 in semifinal action Monday.
Alex Newhook returned from injury to put Canada on the board just 59 seconds into the game. Connor McMichael, Cole Perfetti and Braden Schneider added goals for the defending champs, and Dylan Cozens sealed the result with an empty netter. Russian goaltender Yaroslav Askarov struggled to hang on to his stick at times and stopped 30-of-34 shots.
Devon Levi had 28 saves to collect his third shutout of the tournament.
Canada will play the United States in TuesdayB次元官网网址檚 final (faceoff at 6:30 p.m., TSN), after the Americans beat Finland 4-3 in the other semifinal. Finland and Russia will play for the bronze medal.
There were fears that Newhook would not return to the tournament after suffering an upper-body injury in CanadaB次元官网网址檚 final preliminary-round game against Finland on New YearB次元官网网址檚 Eve.
The Colorado Avalanche prospect from Corner Brook, N.L., a former B.C. Hockey League star with the Victoria Grizzlies, missed SaturdayB次元官网网址檚 quarterfinal game against the Czech Republic but looked healthy on Monday when he scored his third goal of the tournament on his first shift of the game. NewhookB次元官网网址檚 shot hit the back bar of the Russian net and popped back out before anyone on the ice knew it went in. Play continued until the goal horn was sounded and officials reviewed the video as NewhookB次元官网网址檚 teammates congratulated him on the bench.
OH THE DRAMA! 59 seconds in 's Newhook gets credited with a goal and it's 1-0!
B次元官网网址� IIHF (@IIHFHockey)
Here's the goal 馃憞
McMichael added to CanadaB次元官网网址檚 lead midway through the first frame after a battle in front of the net resulted in Askarov misplacing his stick.
Jakob Pelletier sent a crisp pass to McMichael downlow and the native of Ajax, Ont., popped it in behind the Russian netminder to put Canada up 2-0.
A power-play marker from Perfetti widened the margin 15:05 into the first period.
Less than five minutes into the second frame, Askarov lost his stick once again and Canada capitalized. Schneider took a long shot from the top of the face-off circle and beat the Russian goalie glove side. It was his first goal of the tournament.
READ MORE:
Russia got on the board with less than three minutes to go in the second period only to have its goal disallowed.
Canadian defenceman Justin Barron got tangled with Levi on a Russian power play, preventing the goaltender from getting all the way across the net in time to stop a shot from Mikhail Abramov. The Russians celebrated but Canada quickly challenged the call for an offside zone entry and, upon review, the officials agreed, waving off the goal.
Cozens nearly added to the Canadian tally with just 30 seconds to go in the second period when the Buffalo Sabres prospect was awarded a penalty shot. But Askarov stopped CozensB次元官网网址� backhand attempt with his skate.
Russia pushed hard in the third period. Shakir Mukhamadullin came close to scoring midway through the frame, ringing a shot off the post. Both teams went down to four men with just over four minutes left on the clock after Peyton Krebs and Zakhar Bardakov were called for roughing. The Russians pulled Askarov with about three minutes to go, and Cozens buried the empty-net goal with 1:29 left on the clock.
The 19-year-old from Whitehorse, Yukon, also had two assists in the game. With 16 points (eight goals, eight assists), he leads the tournament in scoring.
The tilt between Canada and Russia on Monday was a rematch of last yearB次元官网网址檚 gold-medal game, which saw the Canadians claw their way back from a deficit for a dramatic 4-3 win.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Like us on and follow us on
