THN.com/podcast. From THN On The 'E': Four Teams Battle in the ECHL Playoffs Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk4MjAzMTQxMTkwMDY3NzU4/2023-iihf-wmc_2.jpg] After Latvia won a historic bronze medal earlier in the day by beating Team USA, Germany looked for an upset of their own and to win their nation’s first-ever gold medal at the IIHF men's World Championship. After two tied periods, however, Canada came away victorious, capturing gold with a 5-2 win. J.J. Peterka opened the scoring by taking a stretch pass from Moritz Seider before beating Canadian netminder Samuel Montembeault glove side with a wrister. Just over three minutes later, Canada’s Sammy Blais evened the score. Blais took a cross-crease pass off a broken play near the blueline and found the back of the net to knot things at 1-1, which is how the opening period would end. The second period was a near repeat of the opening frame. Germany’s Daniel Fischbuch opened the scoring, followed by a power-play marker from Canada’s Lawson Crouse to even the score at 2-2 heading into the third period. In the third, Canada’s veteran presence came to play. Sammy Blais got his second of the game, the eventual game-winner, followed by insurance from Tyler Toffoli and an empty-netter by Scott Laughton. The 6-foot-2 St. Louis Blues forward, Blais, finished the tournament with six goals and eight points in 10 games for Canada. He provided clutch scoring throughout the tournament and was named Canada’s player of the game in the gold medal match. Canada won silver last year after falling to Finland in the gold medal game, and they won gold in 2021. The win pushed Canada into the all-time lead for world titles, surpassing Russia and the former Soviet Union with 28 gold medals [https://www.iihf.com/en/medalists] at the World Championship and Olympics in years when the worlds were not played due to Olympic competition. Canada had the largest NHL contingent at the tournament, with every player competing in the NHL this season except for 2023 NHL draft prospect Adam Fantilli. According to IIHF president Luc Tardif, who spoke in a press conference prior to the gold medal game, seeing more NHL participation and best-on-best competition is the ultimate goal of the IIHF. “We want the best players in the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Olympic games,” Tardif told the media [https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2023/wm/news/45380/iihf_presser_with_finnish_latvian_organizers]. “We almost had it in Beijing, but the pandemic ruined that,” said Tardif. “What we want is a long-term relationship and mutual respect. We want to make sure that all involved parties work together toward a solution.” Germany’s roster was missing several key NHL players from the nation but did have NHL standouts J.J. Peterka, Moritz Seider and Nico Sturm on their roster. The silver marks their best performance at the World Championship, with West Germany capturing silver in 1953. LATVIA WINS HISTORIC BRONZE For the first time ever, Latvia is on the podium at the IIHF World Championship after they completed a historic upset of Team USA to capture bronze. Just over a minute into overtime, Latvia’s bench and the stands at the Nokia Arena in Finland erupted as Kristians Rubins found a loose puck in the slot and beat USA netminder Casey DeSmith to lift Latvia to a 4-3 overtime win. The two teams traded goals in the first period with Rocco Grimaldi scoring a pair for USA. After Matt Coronato put USA ahead 3-2, Rubins scored the tying goal with less than six minutes to go in the game. Shortly later, he’d score the most important goal in Latvian men’s hockey history. Latvia goaltender Arturs Silovs was one of the key reasons for the team's success at the World Championship, and that earned him the tournament MVP honors.
