The IIHF World Championship is not the Olympics, but some of Canada's stars were hoping to wash out the bad taste in their mouths from three months ago.
Finland had other ideas.
A dominant second period lifted Finland to a 4-2 victory against Canada in the semifinal round of the World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland, on Saturday.
Finland outshot Canada 29-21 and snuffed both of Canada's power plays.
Finland will face host Switzerland in the gold medal game on Sunday, while Canada will face Norway, which fell to the Swiss 6-0 earlier on Saturday.
Canada held a 2-1 lead to end the first period on the strength of goals by Dylan Holloway and Robert Thomas.
Finland's surge in the middle 20 minutes, however, had Canada on its heels throughout the second period. Aleksander Barkov, Konsta Helenius and Aatu Raty scored during a 12-minute span that flipped a one-goal deficit into a two-goal lead for Finland.
Canada was never able to overcome the second period. Finnish goaltender Justus Annunen stood tall during several third-period Canada chances to preserve the victory.
A second-period surge by Finland was enough to beat Canada 4-2 on Saturday. (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images)
While the Canadian roster was hardly comparable to what was showcased three months earlier in the Olympics — Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and many other Canadian stars were nowhere to be found — there were still plenty of standouts representing Canada in this tournament.
The headliners were Macklin Celebrini and Sidney Crosby, both of whom have enjoyed strong tournaments. Celebrini leads Canada with 12 points in eight games, while Crosby is second with 10 points in eight games.
Plenty of other big Canadian names were on hand, including Thomas, Holloway, John Tavares, Ryan O'Reilly and Mark Scheifele. For much of the tournament, Canada was as dominant as expected, going undefeated through the preliminary games and in the quarterfinals.
Their first loss, however, was enough to eliminate them from gold medal consideration.
Earlier, some of Canada's best players expressed that it was an important tournament, even without some of the world's best players.
“I think it's important to get Hockey Canada back on the right track,†Celebrini, the 19-year-old captain of Team Canada, told The Athletic last week. “Losing at the World's last year, that was devastating. And the way the Olympics went, well, was really devastating. I just think we need to get back on the right track. I think it's important to win something.â€
The best they'll do is win a bronze medal on Sunday.
Barkov, who has been terrific all tournament after missing the entirety of the Florida Panthers' season because of a torn ACL and MCL sustained in September, was named Finland's best player of the game. Holloway was named Canada's best player of the game.
The IIHF also announced the three best players in the tournament for each team.
Celebrini, Crosby and goaltender Jet Greaves received that acknowledgement for Canada.
Barkov, Henri Jokiharju and Jesse Puljujarvi received top-three billing for Finland.
Canada has not won the IIHF World Championship since 2023. It was stunned in the quarterfinals last season by Denmark.
