World Hockey Championship | Canada takes gold

(Tampere) Helped by two goals from Samuel Blais, Canada beat Germany 5-2 in the World Hockey Championship final on Sunday.

This is a 28^e title for Canada, a high in tournament history. Russia/Soviet Union totals 27.

Lawson Crouse, Tyler Toffoli and Scott Laughton scored Canada’s other goals.

John Peterka and Daniel Fischbuch beat Montreal Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault, who faced 23 shots. Mathias Niederberger made 23 saves on 27 shots for the Germans.

Peterka scored the first goal of the final, 7:44 into the game. Moritz Müller and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider had assists.

After serving a team penalty for delaying the game following Germany’s goal, Blais tied the game at 1-1 with an accurate shot near the crease. Peyton Krebs of the Buffalo Sabers and Jake Neighbors of the St. Louis Blues picked up the assists.

Germany regained a one-goal lead in the second period through Fischbuch.

When the Germans wanted to clear the puck, it instead hit a teammate on the blue line and allowed Fischbuch to recover the disc following a bizarre jump, to put on his second of the tournament. Seider picked up a second assist on the goal.

With 2:32 remaining in the second period, Canada once again brought both teams back to square one. On the power play, Crouse positioned himself in the slot and redirected a superb pass from Krebs into the net.

Blais scored his second goal of the game 4:51 into the third period, following a Cody Glass-induced turnover behind the Germany net.

Blais’ sixth goal of the tournament put Canada ahead for the first time in the game.

Canada doubled their lead with 8:09 left in regulation when Toffoli opted to shoot on a 2-on-1 push and beat Niederberger with a shot between the pads.

Laughton cemented Canada’s victory by scoring Canada’s fifth empty-netter goal with less than two minutes remaining.

Bronze to Latvia

Earlier in the day, Kristians Rubins scored his second goal of the game 1:22 into overtime to lead Latvia to a 4-3 victory over the United States and the bronze medal.

It is the first time in its history that Latvia ranks in the top 3 to this event. This country had never done better than a seventh place, a feat it had achieved on three occasions.

For their part, the United States lost the bronze medal for the second consecutive year.

The American team had proved intractable by winning their first eight games of the tournament before losing the semi-final match on Saturday, by a score of 4-3 and also in overtime, this time against Germany.

Before scoring the game-winning goal, Rubins had scored the tying goal with 5:39 remaining in the third period.

Roberts Bukarts and Janis Jaks also hit the mark for Latvia.

Rocco Grimaldi had two of USA’s goals, each time to put his side level in the first half.

Then, 6:19 into the third period, Matt Coronato gave the United States their first lead of the game.