Canada-USA Showdown For World Junior Gold

It will be an All-North American showdown for the gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Canada and the United States both won their respective semifinal matchups to advance to Tuesday's championship game at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. It is the first time the two rivals have faced off with the gold on the line since Denver native Troy Terry's shootout goal to lift Team USA to victory in 2017.
The Canadians beat another rival to get a chance to celebrate on home ice, as they shutout Russia 5-0 in the first semifinal matchup on Monday night.

After missing the previous game with an upper-body injury, Colorado Avalanche prospect Alex Newhook found the back of the net just 59 seconds into the game for Team Canada. Newhook has three goals and three assists in five games at the tournament.
Fellow prospect Bowen Byram helped extend Canada's lead to 3-0 with 4:55 remaining in the opening period with the primary assists on a power-play goal by Cole Perfetti. Byram played a game-high 25:42 and was named one of the three best players for Canada at the tournament following the game. The defenseman has five points (one goal, four assists) in six games, is tied with a tournament-high plus-14 rating and is averaging 22:30 of ice time.
Justin Barron, another blue-line prospect for Colorado, had two shots and saw 14:55 of ice time in the semifinal. He has two assists and a plus-5 rating at this year's World Juniors.
Canada is the defending champions at the under-20 tournament and has won gold in two of the previous three years.

United States (4) vs. Finland (3)

Arthur Kaliyev scored with 76 seconds remaining regulation to lift the United States to a 4-3 victory over Finland in the second semifinal at the World Juniors on Monday.
The Finns scored twice in the third period to knot the game at 3-3, including tying the contest with 3:43 left, but the U.S. kept the pressure on offensively and Kaliyev's wrist shot from the slot found twine to put the Americans in the championship game.
Avalanche prospect defenseman Drew Helleson finished the contest with a plus-2 rating in 17:54 of ice time in the semifinals. He has three points (two goals and one assist) and a plus-7 rating at the tournament.
Team USA is guaranteed to medal for the fifth time in six years and will be aiming for its fifth World Junior gold in its history.