2023 mwc may 28 can ger

IIHF Worlds Preview: Canada vs. Germany

Sunday, May 28 | 1:20 p.m. ET | Tampere, Finland | Gold Medal Game

Jonathan Yue
|
May 28, 2023
|

For the fourth-straight tournament, Canada’s National Men’s Team will play in the gold medal game at the IIHF World Championship; it will face Germany on Sunday in Tampere, in search of its 28th world title.

Last Game

Canada came from behind to earn a 4-2 victory over Latvia in its semifinal Saturday. Jack Quinn, Adam Fantilli and Scott Laughton scored third-period goals to complete the comeback, and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves to earn his fifth win.

Germany posted a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the United States on Saturday to qualify for the final. Frederik Tiffels was the overtime hero, scoring his second of the game at 7:32 of the extra period after Marcel Noebels tied it with 1:23 left and goaltender Mathias Niederberger on the bench for an extra attacker. Niederberger finished with 30 saves, including six in overtime.

Last Meeting

Canada and Germany met last year in the prelim opener in Helsinki, with the Canadians downing the Germans by a score of 5-3 . Pierre-Luc Dubois finished with a pair of goals and Kent Johnson scored the game-winner. Logan Thompson turned aside 18 of 21 shots for his first career Team Canada win.

What to Watch

Canada was down two of its key penalty killers in Joe Veleno (suspension) and Ethan Bear (injury) for the semifinals, but that wasn’t an issue as the Canadians killed off all six Latvia power plays, improving its penalty kill to 93.1% (good for second in the tournament). The PK unit will need to be good again in the final; the Germans have scored six power-play goals in the tournament and are clicking at a 25% success rate.

The Germans entered the knockout round as the eighth-ranked team out of eight quarterfinalists after going 4-0-0-3 in preliminary round. But none of that matters now. First, they knocked out first-place Switzerland with a 3-1 win in the quarters before handing the United States its first loss of the tournament in the semis. J.J. Peterka has led the Germans offensively, collecting 11 points (5-6—11) to rank third in the tournament scoring race. In the crease, Niederberger has played all but one game, entering the gold medal game with a 1.98 goals-against-average and .910 save percentage, while making the third most saves (163) – 59 of which have come in the playoffs.

A Look Back

Canada holds a big lead in the head-to-head history, winning 21 of 24 meetings (with two ties) and outscoring the Germans 111-33.

It has been 93 years since the Canadians and Germans met for gold at the IIHF Worlds; at the 1930 tournament – the first time the event was held apart from the Olympic Games – Canada (represented by the Toronto CCMs) downed the host Germans 6-1 in Berlin to claim its fourth-straight gold.

All-time record: Canada leads 21-1-2 (2-0 in OT/SO)

Canada goals: 111

Germany goals: 33

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

Recent News
Most Popular
Videos
Photos
HCC: One For All in Yellowknife
One For All celebrated women’s hockey with more than 300 participants.
2024 NWT Rivalry Series: CAN 6 – USA 1 (Game 7)
Spooner and Maltais scored twice to lead Canada to win the series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 3 – USA 0 (Game 6)
Maschmeyer made 27 saves for the shutout to tie the Rivalry Series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 4 – USA 2 (Game 5)
Bell, Fast and Stacey scored late to help Canada stay alive.
Schedule