MARCHAND’S GOAL LEADS CANADA INTO SEMI-FINAL IN WIN OVER FINLAND

by Alan Adams

PARDUBICE, Czech Republic – Canada is heading to the medal round of the IIHF World Junior Championship for a 10th consecutive year.

Brad Marchand (Hammonds Plains, NS/Halifax, QMJHL) scored midway through the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and Canada beat Finland 4-2 in their quarterfinal on Wednesday.

"It is just a great feeling," defenceman Drew Doughty (London, ON/Guelph, OHL) said after the game.

The Canadians will now meet the United States in a semi-final on Friday in a rematch of the '07 semi, which Canada won in a dramatic shootout on the road to its third straight gold medal.

"I remember being in Guelph and we were all called off the practice rink to go into the dressing room to watch the shootout," said Doughty. "Even though I wasn't there, it was such a proud feeling to be a Canadian."

The Finns and Canadians were tied heading into the final period and they traded goals before the Canadians pulled away.

Marchand's wrist shot went off a defender's stick and sailed past Finnish netminder Harri Sateri at 10:32 for the winning goal and Stefan Legein (Oakville, ON/Niagara, OHL) iced the win when he scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left in the game with Sateri on the bench for an extra attacker.

The Finns opened the scoring when Juuso Puustinen fooled Canadian goaltender Steve Mason (Oakville, ON/London, OHL), making it look like he was going to dump the puck into the Canadian before ripping a long wrist shot past Mason at 7:23 of the opening period.

John Tavares (Oakville, ON/Oshawa, OHL) knotted the score on a power play in the second period, beating Sateri with a high wrist shot from in close for his fourth goal of the tournament.

"My job is to produce offence," said Tavares.

Steve Stamkos (Unionville, ON/Sarnia, OHL) put the Canadian ahead at 2:20 on the third when he jammed the puck Sateri. Doughty set up the scoring play on a superb offensive rush and a smart pass to his teammate.

"I didn't want to rush the puck but when I saw the opening I decided to go," said Doughty. "I saw a white jersey out of the corner of my eye and Stammer got his stick on it."

The Finns tied it at 5:42 of the third period, as Jan-Mikael Juutilainen banked his centring pass off Mason and into the net, setting up Marchand’s heroics.

Canada has now beaten Finland six straight times at the World Juniors.

As the Canadian anthem was being played after the game, the Canadians started to look ahead.

"Two more, two more," said Legein, referring to the two victories Canada needs to mine gold for a fourth consecutive year.

"We can't think about the gold medal game," said Doughty. "Our focus is on the Americans. We love to beat them and they love to beat us. It is a great rivalry."