Canada won the men’s portion of the 2022 World Hockey League with a 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic in the final played on Monday night at Place Belle.
This allows the Canadians to end a 15-year drought and take the sixth title since the inception of this competition.
After a goalless first half, the Canadians scored two goals in less than a minute. Josh Anderson scored first with a rebound from Jean-Philippe Moquin, then Jeffrey Bradley doubled the lead with a fine shot at the top of the net with a shot from the area.
Trevor Minman then accepted a pass from Noah Lemos in the singles race to give Canada a 3-0 lead.
Goalkeeper Christian Lantin also made several appearances in this middle period to maintain the Canadian lead. However, he couldn’t do anything on Tomasz Vivar’s goal which he scored on strong play in the last minute of this clash.
Vivar scored his second goal at the start of the third half to put pressure on Canada, but Jean-Philippe Trudeau immediately gave a signal to allow his team to regain a two-goal lead.
However, the Czech striker was not satisfied. He completed a hat-trick, allowing his team to believe it a little longer.
But Karl Lively put an end to the controversy by scoring an important goal five minutes before the end of the match. The defense did not concede anything to the Czechs after that and captain Nelson Vargas Dias completed the scoring with an empty net.
After the match, the organizers announced the names of the individual prize winners for the tournament. Christian Lantin has been chosen Goalkeeper par excellence, while Bill Marshall was chosen The best defender. Meanwhile, Danic Martell did it He won the best player and best scorer awards in the competition. Striker Karl Léveillé also secured a place on the All-Star Team.
Canadians retain their title
Earlier in the evening, the Canadian women’s team completed the comeback to claim a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic to claim their second consecutive world title.
The Czechs took an early lead in this match through Karolína Kosinová and Michaela Krásová, who each scored within the first five minutes of play.
However, Canada has not said its last word. Reagan Fisher and Shay Lynn Clark scored in quick succession halfway across the middle tire to connect the two teams.
Thus the tension was palpable in the third period. Both teams had few chances to score and the fans of both teams exchanged cheers.
The Czech Republic opened the door to its opponent in the latter part of this period by giving a double advantage to the representatives of Canada. They didn’t ask for much and took the lead for the first time in the match with a goal from Kristin Cuse. The Maple Leaf then retained their lead for the remainder of the match to claim the title.
After the match, Canadian Carol Ann Abshall was named the best player of the tournament. Cory Jacobson was voted best defender. And two other Canadians ended up on the All-Star team instead, goalkeeper Juliana Thompson and defender Kristen Kouse.
Note that this is Canada’s sixth gold medal on eight occasions since the women’s division was introduced in 2007.