The final of the world championship in Riga will oppose Canada and Finland, as two years earlier in Bratislava.
The Maple Leaf players won 4-2 in the semifinals over the United States, as the Finns beat Germany 2-1.
Defeated in its first three matches in this tournament, Canada reached the final for the fifth time in the last six editions. But he remains on two failures in the final, in 2017 against Sweden and in 2019 against Finland, and his last coronation dates back to 2016.
Coach Gerard Gallant’s players have always been in the lead on Saturday against the United States. Author of 2-1 and 3-1, Andrew Mangiapane was the determining element for the Canadians, who ensured their success in the empty goal thanks to Justin Danforth with 24 seconds of the siren.
Andrew Mangiapane had already been decisive in the quarter-finals against Russia, scoring the winning goal in overtime. The Calgary Flames forward, who had not made the opening three games of the tournament, is 11 points – including 7 goals – in six games in Riga.
Finland, who won on penalties against Canada on the last day of the group stage, suffered to the end against Germany. Coach Jukka Jalonen’s men were content with minimum serve after taking advantage of two individual errors to lead 2-0 at the end of the first period.
Fallen from Switzerland in the quarter, Germany glued to 2-1 from the 32nd on a success of Matthias Plachta in numerical superiority. The team coached by Finnish Toni Soderholm kept pushing, finishing with 28 shots on target against 17 for Finland, but couldn’t defeat Jussi Olkinuora for a second time.
/ ATS
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