For Carson Carels and Josh Ravensbergen, it wasn’t the colour they had in mind but at least they are returning to Prince George with a medal around their necks.
Less than 24 hours after falling to Czechia 6-4 in the semi-finals, Canada picked themselves up off the mat to double up Finland 6-3 Monday afternoon in the bronze medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Minnesota.
The afternoon tilt started how the semi-finals ended for the Canadians culminating in lots of frantic offense.
Sam O’Reilly struck first for Canada beating Petteri Rimpanen for a 1-0 lead 1:10 into the contest.
Two minutes later, Arttu Valila evened the score for the Fins solving Carter George.
Both teams continued to trade goals as Braeden Cootes (Canada) and Julius Miettinen (Finland) found the back of the net.
Canada’s lethal power-play found the back of the net with less than two minutes remaining as Zayne Parekh put a shot past Rimpinen for a 3-2 edge after 20 minutes.
O’Reilly and Porter Martone gave the Canadians some much-needed breathing in the second scoring twice in a span of four minutes.
Heikki Ruohonen kept Finland within ear shot making it a 5-3 game.
Gavin McKenna iced the bronze medal for Canada with a late goal in the third period.
McKenna and Michael Hage ended the contest with four points each.
Zayne Parekh set the record for most points by a Canadian defenseman at the world juniors with 13 thanks to a goal and an assist.
The 19-year-old surpassed previous record holders Alex Pietrangelo (2010) and Bryan McCabe (1995).
Carels played once again on the fourth pairing with Keaton Verhoeff and got 10 1/2 minutes of ice time while Ravensbergen dressed as the backup goalie but didn’t see any game action in the tournament.
Canada outshot Finland 30-25 and went 2-for-4 on the power-play while Finland was 1-for-3.
The game summary and stats are here.
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