Canada looks for consolation

Can Canada find the motivation after a tough loss on Tuesday?

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This will be the third-straight year Canada does not win gold in the World Junior Hockey Championship. The previous two tournaments they walked away with silver medals, last winning gold in Ottawa in 2009. The last time Canada did not medal in this tournament was in 1998, when they finished with the worst showing in their history in eighth place.

"They have a lot of good, high-skilled players and we have to be ready to play because that medal means a lot to them as well and they're going to come hard," Canada forward Brendan Gallagher said.

Not since 2006 have the Finns reached the podium in this tournament. They beat the United States in Vancouver to take home the bronze.

"It's not a disappointment at all," Finland goalie Christopher Gibson said. "We'll take any medal we can take. Of course, it's a great thing to have your country in the top four, but if you leave with a medal, it's even better."

Team Canada will be without Boone Jenner, who was suspended after being thrown out of the semifinal for spearing Russian forward Yevgeni Kuznetsov.

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"I'm disappointed," head coach Don Hay said. "I think that he was kind of provoked into the situation. I know he should have (shown) more discipline and stay away from that, but there was no need for the Russian player to come over to him after he had been hit."

Can Canada motivate itself for bronze?

For a country that accepts nothing but a gold medal, finding motivation to play for the bronze will be a difficult task. Many of the Canadian players said the right things following Wednesday's practice, but disappointment was still evident on their faces.

"It was really tough because this gold medal has been a goal of mine for a really long time and now there's no chance at it," Gallagher said. "You wake up and you put things into perspective. You realize it's not the end of the world."

"You can't mope around and feel sorry for yourself, it's only going to make things worse," forward Brett Connolly said. "We'll be happy going home knowing we gave it our all in the last game and didn't feel sorry for ourselves. It's something we want to get accomplished."

Will Sami Aittokallio return to form?

Only a handful of players were on the ice for the Finnish team at practice on Wednesday and only Gibson met with the media afterwards. Aittokallio, presumably the starter, coughed up the tying goal late in the third period of the semifinal against Sweden. Johan Sundstrom caught Aittokallio's clear-out attempt and fired it out front to Max Friberg, who beat Aittokallio to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining.

Aittokallio can hardly be blamed for the loss. While many have blamed him for Sweden's tying goal, it was a hard-luck play considering Sundstrom managed to grab the puck with his right hand in midair, knock it to his stick and feed Friberg in front before Aittokallio could retreat to his net. The Finnish goalie, who became known for his celebrations in round-robin play, was in tears following the game.

"Aittokallio has played really good in this tournament so I wouldn't be disappointed if he would get this start," Gibson said.

Aittokallio did not play in Canada's 8-1 round-robin win over Finland, but did play one period in the pre-tournament game, where Canada won 3-1 in Calgary on Dec. 19.

Can Canada's discipline improve?

Undisciplined penalties ate away the clock and opened the door for the Russians to defeat Canada in the semifinal. In addition to Jenner's penalty and subsequent suspension, Jonathan Huberdeau was sent off for 10 minutes after slashing the boards in protest to a call he didn't like.

"We lacked composure and that's no excuse," Gallagher said. "That's something we got to learn from. Everyone in that group, we are still young kids, we have long careers ahead of us and going forward that game's going to really help us because we let the emotions seep into our play and it hurt our game."

Finland's power-play -- led by the Granlund brothers, Mikael and Markus, alongside Teemu Pulkkinen -- gives them a dynamic group. Their power-play is operating at nearly 26 per cent in the tournament.

Will previous meetings dictate this one?

Canada will have an edge not just in fan participation, but in previous victories. Although their 8-1 win on Boxing Day was deceiving, the Canadian players remain guarded not to become overconfident.

"They were a whole different team throughout the rest of the tournament if you look at their games," Brandon Gormley explained. "We might have caught them off-guard a little bit in the first game and we have to find that energy and that emotion we had in that first game if we're going to be successful."

"They're going to give us our best game," Connolly added. "We have to be ready for that. We can't take them lightly. We have to play a very good hockey game. The Finns are a good team. I don't think they gave us their best in that first game so we have to be ready."