Canada won the World Junior Hockey Championship for the first time since 1997, routing Russia 6-1 on Tuesday night for its 11th overall title.
Jeff Carter and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and two assists to help the Canadians end a string of four straight runner-up finishes. Russia beat Canada in the 2002 and 2003 finals and the US upset the Canadians last year in Finland.
PHOTO: AFP
Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron, selected the outstanding player of the tournament, added a power-play goal and an assist in the most lopsided title game since the tournament switched to a bracket format in 1996.
"It's been the experience of my life," Bergeron said.
Canada, which outscored its opponents 41-7 in six games, blew it open with a four-goal second period. Carter began the run, with his routine shot from the right circle fooling goalie Anton Khudobin to make it 3-1 at 3:33.
After Andrei Kuznetsov replaced Khudobin in goal, Bergeron and Anthony Stewart added goals in a 61-second span, and defenseman Dion Phaneuf made it 6-1 with a power-play goal.
lots of shots
Canada outshot Russia 15-2 in the second period and 32-19 overall.
"That third goal got us on a roll," Canadian coach Brent Sutter said.
Danny Syvret also scored for Canada.
"They played amazing and deserved to win the gold medal," Russian coach Sergei Gersonsky said.
Jeff Glass made 18 saves for Canada, allowing only defenseman Alexei Emelin's power-play goal in the first period.
"They are the best team," said Russian star Alexander Ovechkin, who hurt his shoulder in the second period and didn't return.
A pro-Canada crowd dressed in red and white chanted and waived flags throughout the game. Grand Forks is about 120km from the Manitoba border and about 240km from Winnipeg, a city of 750,000 people.
fans from afar
"To have that much fan support when you're not at home is unbelievable," Getzlaf said.
"A lot of people paid a lot of money to come and support our team."
In the third-place game, Petr Vrana scored at 2:38 of overtime to give the Czech Republic a 3-2 victory over the US.
The US missed a chance to win consecutive medals for the first time in team history.
"It would have been huge, but it just didn't go our way," University of North Dakota forward Drew Stafford said.
"There's not much you can say other than it's really disappointing."
Vrana skated around US defenseman Jeff Likens and moved in on goal. With Likens pestering him from behind, Vrana managed a soft shot that went through goalie Al Montoya's legs.
"It was a very weak goal, but it went in and that's all that matters," Vrana said.
"I just tried to put it on net."
Czech goalie Marek Schwarz made 33 saves, 14 in the third period.
The Czech Republic's Michal Polak opened the scoring with a power-play goal early in the first period, and Kevin Porter tied it late in the period.
The teams also traded goals in the second, with Michael Frolik scoring for the Czechs and Drew Stafford countering on a power play for the Americans.
Montoya stopped 34 shots.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was