Joakim Kemell completed his hat trick in overtime when Finland beat Canada 6-5 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the World Under-18 Hockey Championship.
Canada were on their way to victory when Connor Bedard scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to make it 5-3.
Finland, however, resulted in extra time with two early goals late in the game.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki found the back of the net with 4:17 left on the clock to narrow the gap to 5-4, then Kasper Halttunen tied the game with power play with 1:43 remaining.
We need to be more disciplined now, Bedard said after the game. Finland were very talented, and they could easily score two goals in two minutes, and they did. It’s hard to swallow.
Canada joined this tournament which presented Kaufbeuren and Landshut, two cities located in Bavaria, Germany, as defending champions.
Canada won 22 gold medals in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, an off-season U-18 tournament in the junior ranks not sanctioned by the IIHF, compared to four titles won in the U-18 world.
Bedard, 16, is currently the favorite to be selected first overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. He is the only player to return to the Canadian team after winning a gold medal last year.
Kocha Delic, Connor Hvidston and Brayden Schuurman completed the scoring for Canada. Reid Dyck stopped 29 of 35 shots at him.
Tommi Mannisto also blacked out the score sheet for the Finns. Topias Leinonen is enjoying victory after making 24 saves.
Source: Radio-Canada
