The goal at the start of this tournament was simple: Whatever it takes, get back to the Gold Medal Game and defend the title. Claude Julien’s team had a couple hiccups along the way, most notably a 3-2 loss to Denmark in the round robin, but played their finest game of the tournament so far yesterday in a dominating 6-1 victory over Czechia.
Despite yet again giving up the first goal of the game, the Canadians scored late in the first, then added three in the second to put this one out of reach. Their physical play and relentless checking frustrated the Czechs into numerous bad penalties, and it was surprising to see NHL vets like David Krejci and David Pastrnak lose their composure so easily.