Canada edges Latvia, will face Germany in men’s world hockey championship final

Canada's Adam Fantilli (91) celebrates his goal during their semifinal match against Latvia at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Tampere, Finland, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

TAMPERE, Finland — Teenage forward Adam Fantilli scored the go-ahead goal as Canada edged Latvia 4-2 and advanced to the final of the ice hockey world championship.

Canada will play Germany, which upset the United States 4-3 in overtime.

The 18-year-old Fantilli, who is expected to be one of the top picks in the NHL draft, fooled a defenceman before netting his first goal of the tournament with 11:04 to go as Canada took a 3-2 lead.

“I got the pass from (Milan) Lucic. I was in the middle of a one-on-one and tried to make a move and ended up getting a shooting opportunity and it ended up going in,” Fantilli said. “I’m really happy about it.”

Samuel Blais, Jack Quinn and Scott Laughton also scored for Canada, whose goaltender Samuel Montembeault made 20 saves.

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Canada had to twice come back from a goal down to reach its fourth straight final.

Dans Locmelis scored 8:18 into the game to put tournament co-host Latvia 1-0 ahead on a rebound.

Blais one-timed a shot to the roof of Latvia’s goal with 4:28 to go in the middle period for his fourth goal at the tournament to tie the score at 1-1.

Rudolfs Balcers restored the lead for Latvia from the left circle only 1:06 later in the frame.

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Quinn levelled 45 seconds into the final period when his shot was deflected into the net from the mask of goaltender Arturs Silovs.

Germany scored a late equalizer and then upset the United States in overtime Saturday.

Frederik Tiffels scored with 2:28 left in overtime to give Germany a 4-3 win over the Americans in the semifinals.

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Germany reached the final for the first time since 1992, when the playoff format was introduced at the world championship.

The Germans pulled goaltender Mathias Niederberger when they were 3-2 down late in the third period and Marcel Noebels equalized with a backhand shot with 1:23 remaining to force overtime.

Alex Touch and Rocco Grimaldi had given the Americans a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the semifinal.

The Germans replied with goals from Frederik Tiffels and Maksymilian Szuber still in the opening period to make it 2-2.

Michael Eyssimont put the U.S. ahead 3-2 on a rebound midway through the second period.

The U.S. outshot the Germans 33-26.

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