Team Canada is in the semifinals of the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On Monday in the quarterfinals, Canada defeated Slovakia 4-3 in overtime. What we learned in Canada’s first playoff game of the tournament is the fact that Canadian star Connor Bedard of North Vancouver, British Columbia is a big game player.
Bedard scored an unassisted marker at 5:17 of the extra period for the game-winning goal. It was one of two goals he had in the game as he opened the scoring at 6:07 of the first period from Logan Stankoven of Kamloops, British Columbia. Bedard now has the Canadian record for the most goals all-time at the World Juniors (15), most points all-time at the World Juniors (32), and most points all-time in a single World Juniors (19). The other two Canadian goal scorers were Dylan Guenther and Zack Ostapchuk, each of Edmonton, Alberta.
Canada will now play the United States on Wednesday in the second of two semifinals. Sweden will play Czechia in the other semifinal. In the other three quarterfinal games on Monday, Sweden beat Finland 3-2, Czechia beat Switzerland 9-1 and the United States trounced Germany 11-1. The Czechia and Switzerland game took place at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, while the games between Sweden and Finland, as well as the United States and Germany were at Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick.
