Canada will meet Team USA for the gold medal at the World Juniors for the fifth time on Tuesday, with the Americans holding a 3-1 advantage in championship matchups.
Watch the gold medal game LIVE tonight at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5 and TSN Direct.
After Canada captured their first battle for gold against the USA in 1997, the neighbours to the south reigned supreme in 2004, 2010 and 2017.
If the Canadians can end the three-game gold medal losing streak against the Americans, they will cap off a dominant title defence at the 2021 tournament.
ZERO
Not only is that the number of games Canada has dropped at the World Juniors this year as they sit at 6-0, it’s also the number of seconds they have trailed – the only team that has yet to be behind at the tournament.
They have led 339:18 out of a possible 360 minutes, scoring in the opening five minutes of five out of the six games they have played.
With victories over Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia and Finland in the preliminary round, and over Czech Republic and Russia in the knockout stage, Canada has a shot at a perfect tournament for the first time since 2015.
The last undefeated champion at the World Juniors was the USA in 2017.
POINTS!
Dylan Cozens was named one of Canada’s three best players at the 2021 World Juniors after the semifinal. His eight goals and eight assists leading up the gold medal game already has him in elite company, with the chance to climb even higher.
Cozens’ 16 points ties him with Cody Hodgson in 2009 for fifth all-time in a single tournament. The pair trail Wayne Gretzky (1978) and Eric Lindros (1991), who are tied for third with 17, and Canada’s all-time leaders Brayden Schenn (2011) and Dale McCourt (1977), who both tallied 18 at one World Juniors.
The Buffalo Sabres prospect would need to have a great night to pass Lindros’ 31 career points, the all-time best in a Canadian jersey, but with 25 points split between the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, Cozens finds himself tied for fourth with Ryan Ellis.
With a single point, he can equal Jordan Eberle and Brayden Schenn, who are tied for second on Canada’s all-time scoring list.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
The Workhorse from Whitehorse isn’t the only member of Canada’s team that can make a move on an all-time list on Tuesday.
Goaltender Devon Levi, who was also named as one of Canada’s best players of the tournament, has made all six starts and boasts impressive numbers.
Levi’s six victories have him tied with 11 other goaltenders for second most in a single tournament, including fellow Canadians Jimmy Waite (1988), Manny Legace (1993), Justin Pogge (2006) and Carey Price (2007).
The record for a single tournament belongs to Tomas Duba, who won seven games for Czech Republic in 2001.
Levi has also earned three shutouts, which equals Pogge’s single-tournament record from the 2006 World Juniors.
If he can blank the Americans on Tuesday, he’ll set a new mark for one World Juniors and tie Jaroslav Halak for the all-time mark with four.
Heading into the gold medal game, the Florida Panthers draft pick also holds a .975 save percentage, the best mark in the history of a single tournament. He leads Russian Ilya Bryzgalov, who posted a .971 save percentage in 2000, and Price, who posted a .961 mark in 2007.
NOTES
– Canada beat USA in the 2020 tournament to snap a four-game American winning streak. – Canada is the last country to repeat as champions at the World Juniors when they won five in a row from 2005-2009. -Trevor Zegras leads USA in points with six goals and 10 assists.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
