TAMPERE, Finland 鈥� Sammy Blais scored twice as sa国际传媒 beat Germany 5-2 to capture gold at the men鈥檚 world hockey championship on Sunday.
Lawson Crouse, captain Tyler Toffoli and Scott Laughton also scored, and Peyton Krebs pitched in two assists for sa国际传媒.
"It feels really good," Blais said. 鈥淲e've been in Europe for a month and we鈥檝e all waited for that moment to play for the gold-medal game. And we're lucky enough to have won it.鈥�
JJ Peterka and Daniel Fischbuch scored for Germany, which was in the gold-medal game for the first time since 1992 when the playoff format was introduced at the world championship. Moritz Seider added two assists.
Goaltender Samuel Montembeault made 21 saves for sa国际传媒, while German netminder Mathias Niederberger turned away 23 shots.
sa国际传媒 won gold for the second time in three years after losing to Finland in overtime in last year鈥檚 world championship gold-medal game. It's sa国际传媒's 28th title at the event, the most of any country. sa国际传媒 also has 16 silver and eight bronze medals from the tourney since 1931.
鈥淚 could not be more proud of this group. We battled through a lot of adversity and doubt to get to this point, and this win is so special,鈥� Toffoli said. 鈥淲e have such a close-knit team that came together quickly, and we always believed in each other.
"Everyone bought in and we played a great game today, and I am incredibly happy to be going back to sa国际传媒 with a gold medal.鈥�
Peterka opened the scoring for Germany at 7:44 of the first period with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle off a breakout that beat Montembeault.
Blais responded three minutes later, scoring in his third consecutive game after finishing off a pass from centre Peyton Krebs on a two-on-one to tie the game at 1-1.
Fischbuch gave Germany the lead again on a one-timer from the slot that trickled into the net 13:47 into the second period.
sa国际传媒 replied with Crouse deflecting a pass from Krebs on the power play with 2:32 remaining in the second frame.
Blais then buried his second of the game 4:51 into the third period with a backhand off a rebound to put sa国际传媒 ahead.
Toffoli added an insurance marker with eight minutes left, scoring with a wrist shot on a two-on-one to make it 4-2 in favour of sa国际传媒.
Laughton scored into an empty net with two minutes left to put the game out of reach.
鈥淭he commitment of everyone on our team was unbelievable. We knew we had to come here and play for each other and commit to a team game. We came here to represent sa国际传媒 and make our country proud, and I am so blessed to be a part of this group,鈥� said head coach Andr茅 Tourigny.
鈥淥ur players wanted to win so bad. They wanted to bring a gold medal back to sa国际传媒, and when you have that mindset you can accomplish great things, and we did that tonight.鈥�
Following the gold-medal game, MacKenzie Weegar was named best defenceman of the tournament and was selected to the media all-star team. Crouse, Montembeault and Weegar were also named Team sa国际传媒鈥檚 three best players of the tournament following the semifinals.
LATVIA 4 UNITED STATES 3 (OT)
Defenceman Kristian Rubins scored his second goal 1:22 into overtime to lead Latvia to victory over the United States and earn a bronze medal earlier Sunday.
It鈥檚 the first top-three finish for Latvia at the tournament. Its previous best was a seventh place it managed three times.
The U.S. lost in the bronze-medal game for the second straight year. The U.S. team was cruising through the tournament with eight straight wins until it was defeated by Germany in the semifinal, 4-3 in overtime.
Rubins rallied Latvia with his first with 5:39 to go in the final period to tie the game at -33 to force overtime.
Roberts Bukarts and Janis Jaks also scored for Latvia.
Rocco Grimaldi scored twice for the U.S. in the opening period to negate Latvia鈥檚 1-0 and 2-1 leads.
Matt Coronato had put the U.S. 3-2 ahead 6:19 into the final period.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2023.
The Canadian Press
