Canada wins Group B after defeating Finland at world juniors

Cole Beaudoin and Brady Martin each scored twice as Canada topped Finland 7-4 at the world junior hockey championship on Wednesday.

Zayne Parekh had a goal and a pair of assists to help his country finish atop Group B at the annual men's under-20 tournament. Tij Iginla scored and set up another.

Michael Hage, Sam O'Reilly and Caleb Desnoyers each chipped in two assists. Carter George made 14 saves. Beaudoin picked up an assist and O'Reilly added an empty-netter for three-point nights.

Roope Vesterinen, with a goal and an assist, Julius Miettinen, Oliver Suvanto and Lasse Boelius replied for Finland. Matias Vanhanen registered two assists. Petteri Rimpinen stopped 25 shots.

Canada now pivots to Friday's quarterfinal clash with Slovakia. The other matchups will see Finland take on the United States, Sweden face Latvia, and the Czechs meet Switzerland.

The Canadians secured 11 of a possible 12 points through four round-robin games, with the only blemish a 2-1 overtime triumph over Latvia. Canada has won seven straight against Finland at the world juniors, with the last loss coming in the quarters of the 2019 event in Vancouver.

Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju, who played almost 28 minutes in Monday's 2-1 OT victory against the Czech Republic, sat out with an illness.

Iginla broke a 3-3 tie midway through the second period when he took a long breakaway pass from Parekh on a power play and fired glove side.

Beaudoin made it 5-3 with under three minutes to go before the intermission, but the Finns, who picked up a chippy 6-3 victory over Canada in a July exhibition game, responded 35 seconds later when Vesterinen jumped on a Keaton Verhoeff turnover and roofed his shot past George's right ear.

Beaudoin gave his team some