PARDUBICE, Czech Republic – Canada’s National Junior Team has advanced to the playoff round at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced on Monday. Canada will face Finland on January 2nd in the quarterfinals. The game will be broadcast live on TSN, RDS and The Fan Radio Network, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Canada finished the round robin portion of the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship in 2nd place in Group A, with a 3-1 record. Sweden finished first in Group A, and receive a bye into the semi-finals, while the Czech Republic finished third and will face Russia in the quarterfinals. The USA (1st), Russia (2nd) and Finland (3rd) advanced from Group B. Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan and Switzerland will take part in the relegation round to determine which two teams will be taking part in the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa.

On Monday, Canada got a pair of goals from Kyle Turris (New Westminster, BC/University of Wisconsin, WCHA), two-point nights from Shawn Matthias (Mississauga, ON/Belleville, OHL), John Tavares (Oakville, ON/Oshawa, OHL) and Josh Godfrey (Kingston, ON/Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) and 15 saves from Steve Mason (Oakville, ON/London, OHL) as they topped Denmark 4-1 in the round-robin finale for both teams. The game marked the first-ever meeting between the two nations at an IIHF World Junior Championship.

TSN, TSN HD and TSN.ca, as well as RDS, RDS HD and RDS.ca, will have live coverage of the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship, airing December 26th to January 5th from the Czech Republic. Coverage features 11 games, including all of Canada games and the medal round games. Following each Canada game, TSN.ca will stream a live post-game show. All games will also be available on-demand on TSN.ca throughout the duration of the tournament.

All of Canada’s games will also be broadcast LIVE on the FAN radio network (check local listings).

Canada has medaled in nine straight IIHF World Junior Championships, including gold medal performances in 2005, 20, silver medals in 1999, 2002, 20 and bronze medals in 20.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH NATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM MEMBERS DURING PLAYOFF ROUND

Hockey Canada’s manager of communications, André Brin, is on-site with the team during the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship to assist with media requests. Due to the time difference between North America and Europe and to the team’s schedule, phone interviews over the coming days will be limited. Priority in all cases will be given to media requests on-site.