The Czech Republic, lead by national hero, and 43-year-old, Jaromir Jagr, started to turn it on in that third but goalie Mike Smith and the Canadians managed to keep the puck out of their net. The shots ended 39-23 for Canada.
The game, played to a full house in Prague, featured end-to-end action in the first that saw Sidney Crosby make a precise stretch pass to Jordan Eberle for a partial breakaway; as he closed in on goal Eberle slipped the puck over to a charging Taylor Hall, who had an empty net and scored to make it 1-0 at the 8:40 mark. A giveaway by Mike Smith later in the period saw a Czech forward shoot it wide.
In the second the Canadians continued to pour it on, out-shooting the Czechs 16-8 but Pavelec was brilliant, making a series of highlight reels saves. At 9:02 of the period, Jason Spezza toe-dragged his way around a defenceman and wired a shot past Pavelec to make it 2-0; Matt Duchene and Dan Hamhuis drew the assists.
Spezza leads the tournie in points with 14.
Canada has not been to a final since 2009 in the tournament but with Crosby and other great offensive players, the Canadians have dominated in all but one of the 9 games they’ve played, setting a tournie record for most goals; they’ve now scored 60 goals, a 6.67 goals per game average.
Canada beat the old record of 57 set by, who else, Canada, in 1989.
Jagr, with 6 goals and 3 assists, has thrilled Czech hockey fans with a strong showing at the tournament, likely the last time he plays for his country, for which he won a gold with at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. He was not dominant in this game however, as the Canadian defence gave him little room to move.
Canada awaits tonight’s winner between Russia, who’ll have Alex Ovechkin in the line-up, and the USA. The loser of that game will play the Czechs tomorrow morning for bronze, the winner plays Canada for the gold tomorrow evening.
