Canada advances to world junior gold-medal game with win over Czechia

Canada will play for gold at the world junior hockey championship after downing Czechia 5-2 in a semifinal on Friday.

Kent Johnson had a goal and two assists for the undefeated Canadians (6-0-0) while Logan Stankoven contributed one of each. Connor Bedard, Mason McTavish and Joshua Roy also scored and Olen Zellweger added three of helpers.

Jan Mysak got Czechia — the country commonly known as the Czech Republic — on the board midway through the third period and added an assist on David Jiricek's power-play tally later in the frame. Jiri Kulich helped on both goals.

Dylan Garand stopped 31-of-33 shots for Canada, which won silver at the 2021 tournament.

Goalie Tomas Suchanek made 22 saves for Czechia (2-3-1) before being replaced by Pavel Cajan to start the third period. Cajan stopped eight shots in relief.

WATCH l Canada defeats Czechia in semifinal:

Canada will face either Finland (4-1-0) or Sweden (4-1-0) in Saturday's gold-medal matchup. The two sides are set to face off in the second semifinal on Friday.

Czechia was coming off a massive 4-2 upset victory over the reigning champion Americans in Wednesday's quarterfinals. Canada earned its spot in the semis with a 6-3 win over Switzerland the same day.

The Canadians restored their three-goal advantage with 5:34 left on the clock when Roy swept a low shot in through Cajan's pads.

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