Canada looks to overcome heartbreak against Finland in bronze-medal game

Team Canada is looking to recover from heartbreak as they take on Finland for the bronze medal at the World Juniors in Minnesota on Monday.

The frustrated Canadian team is coming off a 6-4 loss to Czechia in the semifinals on Sunday, marking it as the third straight time Czechia has beaten Canada in the medal round of the annual tournament.

Watch Canada battle Finland for World Junior bronze at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT on TSN1/4, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.

Canada was forced to rally from three one-goal deficits throughout Sunday’s game, highlighted by captain Porter Martone’s game-tying goal with just 2:41 remaining in the third period.

But Czechia’s Tomas Poletin broke the tie just over a minute later and Vojtech Cihar recorded an empty-net goal to seal the victory for Czechia. Canada then became undisciplined, with Cole Reschny taking a two-minute penalty for goaltender interference and Gavin McKenna handed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a game misconduct for abuse of officials.

“That group in there, I’m so proud of them,” Martone told reporters after the game. “They fought to the very end, and they left it all out there. So that’s all I can say. It’s definitely a tough loss. And Czechia is a really good team. We gave it all out there for 60 minutes, and it didn’t go the way we wanted. We’ll handle it like pros and bounce back tomorrow.”

Sunday’s game had a similar ending to what Canada has experienced at the past two World Junior tournaments against Czechia.

At the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden, Canada was forced to come back from a 2-0 deficit to Czechia in the quarter-finals, only to give up the game-winning goal with just 11 seconds remaining in the game.

The following year, playing in front of Canadian fans in Ottawa, Canada faced Czechia in the quarters once again and had to rally to tie the game with 4:18 remaining in the third period. However, Czechia scored with just 20 seconds remaining in the frame to seal Canada’s loss.

“It’s the same feeling,” McKenna, who is one of six returning players from last year’s tournament, said after the game. “Letting your country down sucks.”

Canada now enters the bronze-medal game looking to avoid going home without a medal for a third straight year, which would equal the country’s worst stretch at the World Juniors.

The only other time Canada missed the podium three straight years at the World Juniors was between 1979 to 1981.

“Very tough, but [we’re] doing it for Canada,” McKenna said of the bronze-medal game. “We’ve got to regroup to be ready.”

“We came here for a gold medal [but] we’ve got a chance to respond,” said Martone.

Finland enters Monday’s game having lost their semifinal matchup with Sweden in heartbreaking fashion themselves.

Like Canada, Finland fought back from two one-goal deficits to force overtime, including Joona Saarelainen’s game-tying goal with 3:59 remaining in the third period.

After a scoreless overtime session, Sweden outscored Finland 2-1 in the shootout to move onto the gold-medal game.

“I’m very proud of our team,” Finland head coach Lauri Mikkola told reporters on Sunday. “Every guy put everything on the ice. It’s a great team we have here.”

Finland is looking to medal at the World Juniors for the second straight year after winning silver at last year’s tournament in Ottawa.

Canada and Finland faced each other during the round robin on New Year’s Eve that saw Canada cement their spot at the top of Group B with a 7-4 victory.