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EDMONTON —
One picture served as goalie Devon Levi’s driving pressure as he and the opposite Canadian gamers waited out quarantine of their resort rooms — taking part in for gold on the world junior hockey championship.
Now the picture is coming into focus.
After beating Russia 5-0 in semifinal motion on Monday, Canada will look to defend its title on Tuesday in opposition to the United States.
“The picture of (playing for gold) has been probably our driving force since we got here,” Levi stated on a video name after Monday’s win. “We’ve put in a lot to this. It’s a great feeling that we’re here and that we got here. But the job’s not done yet.”
The tilt between Canada and Russia on Monday was a rematch of final yr’s gold-medal recreation, which noticed the Canadians claw their approach again from a deficit for a dramatic 4-3 win.
The rigidity was decrease this yr, nonetheless, with Canada dominating the Russians from the beginning.
Alex Newhook returned from harm to place the host nation on the board simply 59 seconds into the sport.
There have been fears that the Colorado Avalanche prospect from Corner Brook, N.L., wouldn’t return to the event after struggling an upper-body harm in Canada’s remaining preliminary-round recreation in opposition to Finland on New Year’s Eve.
He missed Saturday’s quarterfinal recreation in opposition to the Czech Republic however appeared wholesome on Monday when he scored his third objective of the event on his first shift of the sport.
Newhook’s shot hit the again bar of the Russian internet and popped again out earlier than anybody registered the objective. Play continued till the objective horn was sounded and officers reviewed the video as Newhook’s teammates congratulated him on the bench.
“I had no idea. I thought it was straight crossbar and out,” Newhook stated. “But seeing the video after was a good feeling, for sure.”
Connor McMichael, Cole Perfetti and Braden Schneider added targets for the defending champs, and Dylan Cozens sealed the outcome with an empty netter.
The 19-year-old from Whitehorse, Yukon, additionally had two assists within the recreation. With 16 factors (eight targets, eight assists), he leads the event in scoring.
Russian goaltender Yaroslav Askarov struggled to hold on to his stick at instances and stopped 30-of-34 photographs.
Levi had 28 saves to gather his third shutout of the event, tying a report set by Canada’s Justin Pogge in 2006.
But the younger netminder is not centered on getting his title within the report books.
“It’s something to maybe look at after the tournament, but the job’s not done yet,” Levi stated.
One shot did get previous Levi on Monday.
Russia obtained on the board with lower than three minutes to go within the second interval solely to have its objective disallowed.
Canadian defenceman Justin Barron obtained tangled with Levi on a Russian energy play, stopping the goaltender from getting all the best way throughout the online in time to cease a shot from Mikhail Abramov.
The Russians celebrated however Canada rapidly challenged the decision for an offside zone entry. Upon evaluation, the officers agreed, waving off the objective.
Scoring on the chance might have modified the sport, stated Russia’s coach Igor Larionov.
“Nothing you can do. That’s the rule,” he stated.
The Russians merely did not have sufficient vitality and energy to create the odd-man rushes they wanted to topple the Canadians, Larionov stated.
“Team Canada played a good, solid game. They were solid defensively and very efficient offensively, too,” he stated.
The United States beat Finland 4-3 later Monday within the different semifinal recreation.
There can be strain regardless of who the staff performs, Canadian coach Andre Tourigny stated previous to understanding his opponent.
“There’s a lot of emotion in that tournament and you want to be in the last game,” he stated. “You want to be part of something special and that last game will be something special.”
Since coming collectively for choice camp approach again in mid-November, Tourigny has been telling his gamers that they have to be prepared for adversity.
That mindset has helped them put together for the problem of combating for gold, he stated.
“The way the leaders and the player deal with adversity every time there’s adversity, that’s what’s made the difference to me,” Tourigny stated.
“It’s a really tough tournament, there’s still a lot of hockey to be played here. Tomorrow will be a hell of a game.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 4, 2020.
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