PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Canada will play for the gold medal at the 2015 world hockey championships after defeating the Czech Republic 2-0 on Saturday at O2 Arena.
Canadian goaltender Mike Smith recorded his second straight shutout, making 23 saves to hold down a fired-up Czech squad.
The home team showed great jump early in the game – inspired by its loud, partisan crowd of supporters – but a series of early saves from Smith kept the game scoreless.
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Taylor Hall opened the scoring at the 8:40 mark of the first period, converting a slick feed from his Edmonton Oilers teammate Jordan Eberle past helpless Czech netminder Ondrej Pavelec.
Centre Jason Spezza increased Canada’s lead to 2-0 at 9:02 of the second period on a sharp-angle shot that snuck inside the far post.
Spezza leads the tournament with 14 points through nine games, while Hall and Eberle are now tied for second place with 12 points each.
With 1:34 remaining in the second period, the Czech fans got a chance to cheer when Michal Jordan put the first puck of the day past Smith. The euphoria was short-lived, however, as the goal was immediately waved off because Czech forward Petr Koukal was in the goal crease.
Newly arrived in Prague after his Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, centre Tomas Plekanec added an early spark to the Czech attack but was unable to put a puck past Smith. Czech icon Jaromir Jagr was neutralized by Canada’s strong team defence, one game after his heroic performance against Finland in the quarter-final.
Saturday’s win moves Canada closer to becoming the first team to earn the world championships’ new Infront Team Jackpot. If Canada finishes the tournament undefeated in regulation time, the team will earn an extra bonus prize of 1 million Swiss francs on top of the regular prize money.
Canada’s opponent for the gold-medal game will be determined later Saturday when Alexander Ovechkin and the Russians face off against the United States. The Czechs will play the loser of that second semi-final for bronze.
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