Rick Nash named general manager for 2024 IIHF World Championship
TAMPERE, Finland – A 3-goal third interval helped Canada’s National Men’s Team win gold on the 2023 IIHF World Championship, downing Germany 5-2 within the gold medal recreation at Nokia Arena on Sunday.
Sammy Blais (Montmagny, Que./St. Louis, NHL) netted the game-winner off a rebound just below 5 minutes into the third interval, his second purpose of the sport and fourth in three contests, to offer Canada its twenty eighth gold medal at males’s worlds.
“This feels really good. We have been in Europe for a month and have waited for our moment to play for a gold medal, and it is really special to win in front of our friends and family that travelled here,” Blais mentioned. “Our group built chemistry so quickly and it feels like we have played together for a long time, and we are excited to bring this gold medal back home to our fans.”
Canada fell behind 1-0 simply over eight minutes into the sport earlier than Blais, who was named Player of the Game, buried a one-timer off a Peyton Krebs (Okotoks, Alta./Buffalo, NHL) go to tie the sport. Germany responded with a purpose 13:47 into the center body earlier than Lawson Crouse (Mount Brydges, Ont./Arizona, NHL) redirected a puck previous German goaltender Mathias Niederberger on the facility play to equal the rating at 2-2 earlier than the top of the second.
After Blais gave Canada the lead early within the third, Tyler Toffoli (Scarborough, Ont./Calgary, NHL) and Scott Laughton (Oakville, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL) added objectives to safe the win and provides Canada its 51st medal total on the IIHF World Championship.
“I could not be more proud of this group. We battled through a lot of adversity and doubt to get to this point, and this win is so special,” Toffoli mentioned. “We have such a close-knit team that came together quickly, and we always believed in each other. Everyone bought in and we played a great game today, and I am incredibly happy to be going back to Canada with a gold medal.”
Sam Montembeault (Bécancour, Que./Montréal, NHL) capped off a stellar match with a 21-save efficiency. A full recreation abstract will be discovered at HockeyCanada.ca.
Following the gold medal recreation, MacKenzie Weegar (Nepean, Ont./Calgary, NHL) was named Best Defenceman of the match and was chosen to the media all-star workforce. Crouse, Montembeault and Weegar had been additionally named Team Canada’s three greatest gamers of the match following the semifinals.
“The commitment of everyone on our team was unbelievable. We knew we had to come here and play for each other and commit to a team game. We came here to represent Canada and make our country proud, and I am so blessed to be a part of this group,” mentioned head coach André Tourigny (Nicolet, Que./Arizona, NHL). “Our players wanted to win so bad. They wanted to bring a gold medal back to Canada, and when you have that mindset you can accomplish great things, and we did that tonight.”
Canada completed the preliminary spherical in second place in Group B after wins over Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Czechia. It booked a spot within the gold medal recreation after a 4-1 win over Finland within the quarterfinals and a 4-2 win over Latvia within the semifinals.
Since 1931, Canada has collected 28 gold medals on the world championship, to go together with 16 silver and 7 bronze.
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