Canada keep their dominance in the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. After beating the host nation they will now face Russia in the final, who won the semifinal against USA.
Canada 2-0 Czech Republic
The crowd in O2 Arena got to see a one-sided affair with a busy Pavelec in the Czechs goal. 8:40 into the first period Sidney Crosby and Jordan Eberle assisted Taylor Hall who did no mistake, making it 1-0 to Team Canada. While Canada dominated the game, they lacked their regular effectiveness, hitting the posts and crossbar a number of times. 9 minutes into the second period Jason Spezza increased the lead to 2-0. Czech Republic thought they reduced the lead to 2-1 but the referee did wash out, making a call for a questionable offside in front of Mike Smith in the Canadian goal.
USA 0-3 Russia
The second period in the semifinal between these two teams was one of the best periods in the tournament. Both teams exchanged chances and the score could easily have been 3-3 at the 40 minutes break. However, that was not the case and both teams went into the third period with no goals scored. Seven minutes into the third period, Mozyakin skated into the offensive zone and shot the first goal of the game for Russia. It was a good shot, but looking at all the clear goal chances in the second period, it felt like it came from nowhere. The second goal also came from a great individual effort. A day ago, superstar Alexander Ovechkin lost game seven in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Stanley Cup with his Washington Capitals as New York Rangers won in overtime. Now in the World Championships, he got the puck in front of the net and put a laser beam behind Connor Hellebuyck in the American goal. This was now Russia’s game all over. Shipachyov scored 3-0 on a rebound. Team USA gambled by pulling their goalie with four minutes left but this resulted in a beautiful Russian goal in open net: Malkin to Ovechkin to Malkin, bam! 4-0 Russia, game over.
Russia vs Canada in the final
Russia and Canada will play the final Sunday May 17. Russia won the World Championships in Minsk last year. The last time Canada won the tournament was in 2007. Russia beat Canada in the 2008 and 2009 finals. The final 2008 was a spectacular win on Canadian home soil. However, this year Canada has dominated the tournament with superstars like Sidney Crosby and Tyler Seguin. The final will be a blast, no matter what team wins the gold.
