WJC GDB 6.0: Canada one step closer to gold medal game

What a tournament it has been for Canada.

They’ve had some lows in a tough opening game against Latvia and another game where they struggled in the quarter-finals against Switzerland. But they’ve also had games where they looked great — an 11-1 win against Slovakia and a 5-1 rout over Czechia.

Speaking of Czechia, they’re out for revenge against Canada for this afternoon’s 2 p.m. puck drop. They had a massive 4-2 upset over the Americans Wednesday night and they’ll be looking to do the same. The winner will head to the Gold Medal game Saturday at 6 p.m., while the loser will play in the bronze medal game Saturday at 4 p.m.

Czechia gave Canada a bit of a headache earlier on in their round-robin matchup as Martin Rysavy scored 5:10 into the game taking an early lead. By the end of the first, however, Mason McTavish and Kent Johnson both scored as Canada re-took the lead.

The Canadians have seemed to clean up some of the penalty-taking woes. After taking 33 PIM against Finland in the round-robin finale, they wound up taking just 4 PIM Thursday night against Switzerland — big change that helped Canada win.

Czechia will be coming in hot and feeling good about themselves looking for another upset, so Canada needs to have as clean of a slate as possible.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Canada finds themselves in penalty trouble as Czechia scores two powerplay goals.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Canadians manage to gut it out scoring five goals in a win.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Connor Bedard has a two-goal performance.

Want to watch the next generation of hockey stars before they make the show? The World Junior Championship is coming to Edmonton and this is your call to grab tickets! Get your tickets here.