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U.S. Meets Canada in Men's Worlds Semifinal

By USA Hockey, 06/05/21, 1:45AM EDT

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Winner advances to Gold-Medal Game; Puck drop set for 7:15 a.m. ET

The U.S. meets Canada here for the second time at the 2021 IIHF Men's World Championship here in Riga, Latvia. 
     In their preliminary-round tilt on May 23 this year, the U.S. claimed a 5-1 victory off a two-goal performance from Trevor Moore, who earned U.S. Player of the Game honors. Anthony Stolarz started the game in goal before an injury made way for Jake Oettinger to take the crease, making 26 saves in relief. The injury unfortunately ended Stolarz's tournament. It is the second semifinal meeting since 2016 (Canada win, 3-4).

THE SERIES VS. CANADA
Today is the 49th meeting between the North American rivals. All-time, the U.S. is 3-4-1-40-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) against the Canadians but has claimed three of the last four meetings, one being a bronze-medal game in 2018. 

FIFTH TIME U.S.-CANADA MEET TWICE IN MEN'S WORLD
This marks the fifth time in tournament history the two teams are meeting for a second time in a single IIHF Men's World Championship. The last time they met twice was 2018, when the U.S. claimed both meetings for the first time ever with a 5-4 shootout preliminary-round win and a 3-1 bronze-medal win. 
     The first time this occurred was 1985, when the U.S. edged Canada, 4-3, in the preliminary-round before falling, 3-2, in the round-robin playoffs. The 1985 U.S. win was an upset, as the U.S. roster, featuring John Vanbiesbrouck (here with Team USA), Tony Granato, and Mark Johnson defeated a Canadian team headlined by Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, and Ron Francis.

FOURTH SEMIFINAL IN LAST SIX MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
This marks the fourth time in the last six IIHF Men's World Championships that the U.S. has advanced to the semifinal to guarantee a spot in a medal-game. Since the IIHF Men's World Championship tournament was reformatted in 2012, the U.S. has reached the semifinal five times in nine attempts. All-time, the U.S. is 2-9 (W-L) in the semifinals.

QUICK HITS
Defenseman Matt Roy (upper body) and forward Matty Beniers (lower body) are both unavailable for today's game and listed as day-to-day ... Defenseman Matt Tennyson will wear an 'A' in Roy's absence ... Team USA's 6-1 win over Slovakia gave the U.S. its fourth quarterfinal win in its last six IIHF Men's World Championships ... Team USA's eight goals allowed is the fewest by a U.S. entry in group play and tied for third-fewest by any team since the tournament format change in 2012 ... Since 2012, the team with the fewest goals allowed (or tied) in group play has gone on to play in the gold-medal game six times, winning three golds.

HIGHLIGHTS

PHOTOS

POSTGAME COMMENTS

Schedule

U.S. Men's Worlds History

IIHF Tournament Website

Sights and Sounds

Daily Notebook


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