Sakari Manninen scored in overtime to lift host Finland to a 4-3 win over Canada in a wild gold-medal game at the men’s World Hockey Championship on Sunday.
Finland also got two goals from Mikael Granlund and another from Joel Armia. Dylan Cozens, Zach Whitecloud and Max Comtois scored for Canada, while Matt Barzal chipped in with three assists.
The Finns held a 3-1 lead late in the third before the Canadians struck for two goals with their goaltender pulled.
Whitecloud scored with 2:12 remaining to pull Canada to within one goal before Comtois forced three-on-three overtime with the tying goal with 84 seconds remaining in regulation.
Manninen’s winner was scored on the power play six minutes into the extra frame after Canadian captain Thomas Chabot was whistled for a hooking minor.
With the 4-on-3 advantage, Manninen was able to sneak into the right circle with all Canadian eyes on Granlund who had the puck at left point. Recognizing this, Granlund fired a quick pass to the unmarked Manninen who unleashed a howitzer one-timer to clinch the world title.
The Canadian side wasn’t pleased with the call and took exception to the way things ended.
“The fact that we were able to come back in two big games shows how much character this team has. We never gave up, we believed in ourselves, and obviously it is difficult to come up short like we did,” said captain Thomas Chabot.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that the guy threw himself, but at the end of the day my stick was in there and I put myself in that position, so it’s a hockey call and things happen quick,” added Chabot. “But I think everyone can agree that it was a bit of a dive, I think.”
“It sucks,” Canadian forward Pierre-Luc Dubois told the TSN broadcast right after the game. “I mean, you work so hard and for it to be decided like that it sucks. We know when we come into these tournaments it’s different rules but that’s not the point. It’s frustrating.
“You don’t even know the rule book anymore.”
“To lose in overtime when you are short-handed is frustrating. You work so hard all tournament, and to come that close to winning is a difficult thing to fathom,” Pierre-Luc Dubois of Canada said. “I like to win, and that is why I wanted to represent Canada. … We gave it everything we had, we went through the ups and downs, but we stuck with it and we were so close to taking home gold.”
It’s the fourth time that Finland has won the world championship.
This was the third time in as many world championships these two nations have met in the gold-medal game.
“We had great character on this hockey club. Two big games [against Sweden and Finland] where we were down by two goals, and we were able to tie the games in the final two minutes,” said Canadian coach Claude Julien.
“That shows the type of team we had. I am proud of our guys that came over here to represent Canada, and I am so proud of how hard they played all tournament.”
Finland won in 2019, then Canada took revenge in 2021, followed up, now, with the Finns reclaiming their title. The 2020 championship was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Finns were also the 2022 Olympic champions back in February.
Canada led 1-0 entering the third period after Cozens opened the scoring on a Canadian power play four minutes into the second period.
Granlund, who plays for the NHL’s Nashville Predators, evened the score early in the third on a five-on-three advantage with Canada’s Noah Gregor (tripping) and Cole Sillinger (high-sticking) both sitting in the box.
Canadian goaltender Chris Driedger suffered an injury on the play and was replaced by backup Matt Tomkins, who quickly surrendered a second power-play goal to Backlund.
Earlier on Sunday, Czechia hammered the United States 8-4 to win the bronze medal as David Pastrnak scored a hat trick, all in the third period.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2022.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
