Canada beats Finland to reach world hockey championship semifinals

TAMPERE, Finland — Canada secured a semifinal berth at the world hockey championship and also avenged a memorable loss to host Finland on Thursday.

Jack Quinn, Samuel Blais, Michael Carcone and Tyler Toffoli scored as Canada posted a 4-1 victory at the Nokia Arena.

Teemu Hartikainen scored late in the third period for Finland, but Toffoli answered less than a minute later to ice the victory.

“We knew it was going to be a tight game,” said Canada goalie Samuel Montembeault, who made 27 saves. “But that big third goal for us put the weight off our shoulders.”

Carcone made it 3-0 at 2:54 of the third period after Quinn and Blais staked Canada to an early lead.

Hartikainen finally gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he tallied with 3:07 left to play, but Toffoli scored an empty-netter with 2:18 remaining.

Emil Larmi made 27 saves for Finland.

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Finland defeated Canada 4-3 in overtime to win gold last year. It was the third straight time that the two sides played for gold at this event.

Canada will next play Latvia, a surprise 3-1 winner over perennial contender Sweden. The United States will face Germany in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Medal games are scheduled for Sunday.

Finland beat Canada in 2019, but Canada took gold in the rematch two years later. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.