VIENNA (CP) - It will be Canada against the Czech Republic for the IIHF world championship gold medal.
Canada will try to win three straight world championships for the first time in 53 years when it takes on the Czechs on Sunday at the Wiener Stadthalle.
Canada jumped out to a four-goal lead, then held off a feverish Russian rally for a 4-3 semifinal win Saturday.
The Czechs beat Sweden 3-2 on Radek Dvorak's goal 4:43 into sudden death overtime before an arena packed with Czech fans who will surely be there for the final.
"It's exciting," said Canadian goaltender Martin Brodeur. "The fans in Canada miss hockey so much, so for us to be able to give them a gold medal game and hopefully bring the gold medal back to Canada, it's like a gift we're giving back to them.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to do it. We've put ourselves in the situation to do it and we'll definitely try to make the best of it."
The last time Canada won three straight world championships was when it still sent amateur clubs to international tournaments.
The Edmonton Mercurys won in 1950, the Lethbridge Maple Leafs took it in 1951 and Mercurys won again at the 1952 Winter Olympics, which also served as the world championship.
The Czechs, who are missing only three major NHL players - Patrick Elias, Milan Hejduk and Martin Havlat - have not been on the podium at the world championship since their run of three straight titles from 1999 to 2001.
"It's a wide-open game," Dvorak said of facing Canada, which beat the Czechs in overtime of the World Cup semifinals last fall. "Canada has been to three straight finals and we've been unlucky the last few years.
"They know us, we know them. They have a great goaltender and we have a great goaltender (Tomas Vokoun). We have to take it shift by shift but I feel we'll be the lucky team."
There were doubts about Canada's squad from the outset because only eight of its 24 players played in pro leagues this season due to the NHL lockout.
But the Canadians picked up the tempo once medal-round play began and now have a shot at their 24th gold medal since 1920, which would tie the Soviet Union-Russia for the most ever.
"That would be unbelievable," said veteran centre Kris Draper. "Quite frankly, the lockout sucks.
"It's been tough on everybody who hasn't played hockey and I was one of the guys who chose to stay with my family and not play. From the minute we got locked out, this is what I was looking forward to.
"It's been a long time, I've been five weeks away from my kids, but it's going to be worth it when we go out and hopefully do what we came for - and that's defend our title."
Canada beat the Czechs 2-1 in Prague in a pre-tournament game two days before the world championship started in a surprisingly hard-fought encounter that now looks like it may have been a preview.
"We have to play a lot better defensively than Russia did against Canada," said Czech forward Vaclav Prospal. "We have to go hard to the net.
"Martin Brodeur is a great goalie, but nobody is unbeatable."
Alexander Ovechkin's goal at 6:27 of the third period cut Canada's lead to 4-3 but Brodeur held the fort with several outstanding saves, including one on Alex Kovalev with five seconds left.
Wade Redden, Sheldon Souray, Dany Heatley and Ed Jovanovski scored for Canada.
Alexei Yashin, who was without a point in Russia's first seven games, scored and set up Alexander Semin's goal.
Ovechkin's third-period goal had the 7,500 spectators on the edge of their seats, but Brodeur shut the door.
"A 4-0 score is too much of a lead to give them," said Russia's Pavel Datsyuk, who was checked all game by Detroit teammate Draper and didn't get a point.
"We tried to tie it, but we needed more time. Another 10 minutes and we score once, maybe twice."
Canada's Joe Thornton, who had three assists, praised Brodeur's play.
"It was a fun game," he said. "My goodness, we were shaky in the first 10 minutes (of the third period), but we picked it up from then on.
"It's a good thing we've got Marty Brodeur in net."
The Canadians came out looking to shoot at every opportunity at shaky Russian goaltender Maxim Sokolov. It paid off 1:38 into the game when Redden got a big rebound on a shot from the slot and banged in the second chance.
Souray, who spent Canada's 5-4 quarter-final win over Slovakia on the bench, trailed in to fire Thornton's pass into an open side at 5:46.
Canada was on a two-man advantage when Dan Boyle sent a pass across the crease for Heatley to bank in off Sokolov at 10:37.
Finnish referee Hannu Henriksson then took centre stage. He called nine minor penalties in the period, many of them dubious, including a diving penalty against Russia's Andrei Markov that had the crowd jeering.
"The referee gave more penalties to us and Team Canada has a very good power play," said Ovechkin. "That's how they scored the goals - on the power play."
Canada went up 4-0 on a power play when Jovanovski shot a Rick Nash pass into an open net at 1:40.
Brodeur made a handful of smart saves as the Russians cranked up their attack before Semin finally scored at 14:22, firing a wrist shot from the left circle after Yashin won a faceoff.
Yashin's shot along the ice went in off defenceman Chris Phillips' skate at 19:18.
Canada beat Sweden in the last two world championship finals, rallying from 2-0 deficits both times.
Notes - Mike Fisher, benched for the game against Slovakia, was used as a penalty killer against Russia. . . . Canada went into the game on a four-game winning streak over Russia at the world championship, with wins in 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003. . . . Before the game, Canada had only one goal from its defence corps, but three blue-liners scored against Russia.