ATLANTIC

Maritimers help Canada to World Hockey Championship gold

Carol Schram THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published Sunday, May 17, 2015 6:27PM ADT

Canada's players celebrate after defeating Russia in the Hockey World Championships gold medal match in Prague, Czech Republic, Sunday, May 17, 2015. (AP / Petr David Josek)

Text:

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Team Canada was perfect in Prague, capping an outstanding run at the world hockey championship with a dominant win over its archrival.

After five straight years of quarter-final defeats, the Canadians are heading home with world championship gold medals for the first time since 2007 after a 6-1 thrashing of defending champion Russia on Sunday at O2 Arena.

Arguably the deepest team in a tournament rich with big-name stars, the Canadians ran the table in 2015 with a perfect 10-0 record.

Sidney Crosby, Tyler Ennis, Cody Eakin and Claude Giroux paced the Canadian attack with a goal and an assist each. Tyler Seguin and Nathan MacKinnon also scored.

Evgeni Malkin had the only goal for Russia, and star forward Alex Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet.

All tournament long, Canada relied on a potent and balanced scoring attack. On Sunday, the fourth line set the tone for the win.

Eakin was credited with the game's first goal when Ennis's shot deflected off his skate and slid between the pads of Russian netminder Sergei Bobrovsky at the 18:10 of a first period that Canada dominated.

Eakin returned the favour one minute and 56 seconds into the second period, feeding Ennis for a wraparound effort to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

Crosby and Seguin added two more goals in the next 7:06, forcing the Russians to take their time out in an effort to regroup.

But Canada's dominance was absolute. Giroux, on the power play, and MacKinnon added insurance goals in the third period to lock down Canada's first win in history over the Russians in a world championship gold-medal game.

Goaltender Mike Smith's bid for a third-consecutive shutout was foiled when Malkin scored Russia's only goal with 7:13 remaining in the third period. Shots on goal were 37-11 for Canada in the game.

Strong at both ends of the ice, Canada's 66 goals scored set a new Canadian tournament record.

With a goal and an assist in the victory, Crosby finished the tournament with 11 points and became just the eighth Canadian player to join the Triple Gold Club, adding his world championship win to his Olympic gold medals from 2010 and 2014 and his 2009 Stanley Cup.

In the bronze-medal game played earlier on Sunday, forward Nick Bonino of the Vancouver Canucks had a goal and an assist as the United States shut out the host team from the Czech Republic by a score of 3-0. The last medal for the United States was also a bronze, in 2013.