COLOGNE, Germany – Canada’s National Men’s Team are coming home with a silver medal after a 2-1 shootout loss to Sweden in Sunday’s gold-medal game at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
Canada had to fight back from a one-goal deficit after Sweden scored shorthanded in the final minute of the second period. Ryan O’Reilly (Varna, Ont./Buffalo, NHL) pulled the Canadians to even on a powerplay early in the third period, but extra time was needed.
After 20 minutes of overtime, the game went to a five-round shootout where Niklas Backstrom scored the game-winner for the Swedes, while all four Canadian shooters were denied. In goal, Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg/Colorado, NHL) stopped 40 of 41 shots.
“I just want to congratulate Sweden, I thought they were an exceptional team and it was a lot of fun to play them,” said Jon Cooper, Team Canada head coach. “We sat in our locker room and don’t feel like we lost a hockey game tonight, we feel like we lost a shootout. I told our guys: ‘[hold] your head high.’ We knew the rules going in, it was part of the format, and they bested us. I thought both goalies were exceptional, but in the end it came down to a skill competition and they were better than us and they are deserving world champs.”
Canada won its first four contests before an overtime loss to Switzerland, finishing the preliminary round with a 6-0-0-1 record. Canada advanced to the championship game with a stunning come-from-behind, 4-2 semifinal win over Russia.
Team Canada was in position to three-peat for the first time since 1950-52 heading into Sunday’s final, after winning gold at the last two IIHF World Championships by going undefeated during the 2015 tournament, and blanking Finland 2-0 in the gold-medal game in 2016.
Since 1931, Canada has won the world championship 20 times – not counting the years when Olympic Winter Games champions were also considered world champion. The country has also collected 12 silver medals and six bronze in that timespan.
Full game stats and story are available on HockeyCanada.ca
Team Canada return flight itinerary information:
Players and staff will return to their final destinations on Monday, May 22. Flight itineraries for Canada’s players and staff are listed below. Any player not listed is returning at a later date. Information is listed alphabetically by city. Flight information may change without notice; all arrival times are listed in local time.
Calgary, Alta. / KL677 / 1:25 p.m.
Chad Johnson
Charlottetown, PEI. / AC1708 / 12:20 a.m. (May 23)
Gerard Gallant (Assistant Coach)
Miami, FL / Air Berlin 7000 / 2:50 p.m.
Michael Matheson
Montreal, Que. / Delta 9393 / 5:15 p.m.
Sean Couturier
Nashville, TN / Lufthansa 7716 / 6:10 p.m.
Chris Lee, Colton Parayko
Ottawa, Ont. / AC889 / 6:15 p.m.
Calvin de Haan, Claude Giroux
Philadelphia, PA / Delta 2036 / 6:33 p.m.
Wayne Simmonds
Philadelphia, PA / American Airlines 717 / 3:45 p.m.
Ron Hextall (General Manager)
Tampa, FL / Lufthansa 482 / 6:00 p.m.
Jon Cooper (Head Coach)
Toronto, Ont. / AC883 / 2:15 p.m.
Travis Konecny, Mark Scheifele, Jeff Skinner
Toronto, Ont. / Lufthansa 470 / 4:35 p.m.
Mitch Marner
Winnipeg, Man. / AC271 / 10:32 p.m.
Dave Hakstol (Assistant Coach)
For more information on Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.