Top 2023 NHL Draft Prospects at World Juniors Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTkxNzMyOTA4MjUwMTEzNjk5/ca1_7009.jpg] Canada is off to the final of the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton after beating Czechia 5-2 in the semifinal. Canada will meet with the winner of Friday night's second semifinal, Sweden vs, Finland, on Saturday at 8:00 PM ET. Czechia will meet up with the loser of the other semifinal at 4:00 PM ET. Canada was buzzing early on, and at 10:04, they got on the board first. Tyson Foerster was stopped on his initial scoring chance by goaltender Tomas Suchanek, but Kent Johnson found the disk alone near the slot and roofed it for the 1-0 goal. Offensively, Bedard hadn't put up a ton of goals before Friday afternoon with just three. But he got involved in the scoring on Canada's third line, getting a pass from Nathan Gaucher and beating Suchanek uncontested glove side for the 2-0 goal at 15:20. Canada struggled in the early going of the second, trailing the Czechs in shots 9-0 early on. At 31:28, though, Logan Stankoven was sprung on a partial break by Johnson for the 3-0 goal. Five minutes later, Mason McTavish scored his own power-play goal when Johnson faked a pass and found McTavish standing alone, ripping it past Suchanek for what looked like a back-breaker. Fortunately for the Czechs, they wouldn't leave without putting something on the board. With traffic in front screening Dylan Garand, Jan Mysak ended his shutout bid with a blocker-side wrister, making it 4-1. At 52:44, David Jiricek's shot from the point beat Garand cleanly along the ice, cutting the deficit to two late in the game and with momentum on their side. But with 5:34, Joshua Roy's power-play goal put Canada back up by three, enough to take the Czechs out of the contest.
