Team Canada endured its fourth-straight international disappointment when they were defeated by Finland in the 2026 IIHF World Championship Semi-final Saturday.
A year after a tremendous disappointment in the form of an upset at the 2025 IIHF World Championship - and months after falling short in the World Junior Championship and the 2026 Olympic Winter Games - Team Canada was looking to redeem itself at this year's World Championship.
Unfortunately, they will - once again - fail to come out of it golden.
On Saturday, Finland bested Canada, 4-2, in the semi-final to hand Canada its fourth-straight major international tournament without a gold medal. The Canadians still have a chance to come away with a medal, though, as they will face Norway Sunday for a chance at capturing the bronze.
Canadian goaltender Jet Greaves allowed four goals on 17 shots, and Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby and Parker Wotherspoon did not register a point.
Finland began to set the tone just three minutes and 30 seconds into the contest when Patrik Puistola put one home to give his country the 1-0 lead. Canada did respond well the rest of the period, though, outshooting Finland 12-9 and getting on the board twice thanks to Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway.
However, it fell apart from there.
In the middle frame, Finland outshot Canada, 10-3, and they lit up the scoreboard three times. The first was the tying goal by Aleksander Barkov just 49 seconds into the period, and back-to-back tallies by Konsta Helenius and Aatu Raty a little past the midway point of the period - and just over a minute apart - gave Finland the lead permantently as well as an insurance goal for good measure.
Despite outshooting Finland 14-2 in the third period, the Canadians could not solve goaltender Justus Annunen, who made 27 saves on 29 shots.
The gold medal game will take place between Finland and Switzerland at 2:20 p.m. EDT Sunday, which will directly follow the bronze medal game.
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