CANADA ELIMINATED AT WORLD JUNIORS.
ELIMINATED BY FINLAND IN QUARTER-FINALS
This will go down as the one that got away. Canada was 46.4 seconds away from meeting Switzerland in a world junior semifinal when Finland’s Eeli Tolvanen forced overtime by banking in a shot off Aleksi Heponiemi that somehow snuck under the arm of goalie Michael DiPietro.
Just like that, the game turned. Canada, which had led 1-0 from the opening minutes of the second period despite being outplayed, outshot and outchanced, was suddenly on the defensive.
And Finland took advantage. With 4:43 remaining in overtime, Finland’s Toni Utunen took a drop pass in the slot and rocketed a wrist shot over DiPietro’s shoulder as Canada was stunned 2-1 in the quarter-final.
“We told them we were proud of them,” said Canadian head coach Tim Hunter. “They came together, played, compete as hard as they did. That was a Hell of a hockey team. They’re a good hockey team.”
“It’s a tough pill to swallow but you just reflect on what you feel you could have done better as a player or a coach, what you felt you did well as a player or a coach,” said Hunter. “That’s how you get better.”
This game featured it all: two goalies duelling, a last-minute comeback, a penalty shot in overtime. In the end, Finland goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was just too good.
It was a familiar refrain for a Canadian team that despite starting the tournament by outscoring Denmark, Switzerland and the Czech Republic 23-3 in the round robin, could not put the puck in the net when it needed it the most.
Canada had a chance to win the game in overtime, when defenceman Evan Bouchard was hooked on a breakaway. But Maxime Comtois, who took the penalty shot for the Canadians, could not put the puck past the Finnish goalie.
And so, Canada, which had been given an easy path to the final when Switzerland stunned Sweden 2-0 in the quarters on Wednesday, will not win a medal for the first time since 2016. Coincidentally, the team had lost to Finland in the quarter-final of that year as well.
That year, goaltending had been to blame for Canada’s woes. But that was not the case this time.
DiPietro, who stopped 32 shots and had fans chanting his name after the loss, was fantastic. He just didn’t receive any help from his teammates.
Good goaltending can be a difference-maker in these short tournaments. And it certainly was that on Wednesday night..
This one could have went either way, as DiPietro and Luukkonen went save-for-save in a goalie battle.
Ian Mitchell scored Canada’s only goal, as Luukkonen ended up stopping everything else Canada threw his way. DiPietro, meanwhile, could not come up with the big save when his team needed it the most. That’s the rub with being the goaltender for Canada. You tend to only get any notice when you’re cracking under the pressure. But in a year when Canada lacks a dynamic forward or an airtight defence, DiPietro had been leaned on more than usual.
That he not only did it in on home soil, but also in front of a fanbase that is closely watching the Vancouver Canucks prospect’s every move, made it even more impressive.
A year ago, DiPietro was cut from the team. On Wednesday night, two nights after being outplayed by Russia’s Pyotr Kochetkov, DiPietro was the reason this one stayed as close as it did.
This wasn’t Canada’s best game. Not by a long shot. The Finns might not have been very good in the round robin, but they stepped up their game against Canada.
Canada was outshot 11-7 in the first period and then 12-9 in the second. But with DiPietro holding down the fort, Mitchell gave the Canadians a 1-0 lead at 1:30 in the second period.
Barrett Hayton set up the play when he carried the puck into the offensive zone and dangled around a defender with a toe-drag deke. He temporarily lost the puck, but managed to sweep a pass over to a pinching Mitchell, who fired a wrist shot over Luukkonen’s glove hand for his first of the world juniors.
From there, it was all DiPietro. The 19-year-old’s toughest save came early in the first period when he kicked out his leg and robbed Samuli Vainionpaa on a rebound. But he was equally tested in the second when on a shot from the slot by Valtteri Puustinen.
In the end, Finland’s attack was too much.