PRAGUE, Czechia - Andrew Mangiapane will play for a medal.
The colour has yet to be determined.
Mangiapane, on his second stint with Team Canada, has helped push his country into semifinal action at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague via a 6-3 win against the Martin Pospisil-less Slovakia squad in the tournament's first knockout stage.
"Obviously, the job's not done yet," said Mangiapane, who was named the Worlds most valuable player after turning in a golden performance for Canada back in 2021. "There's still lots of hockey to be played. I like where we're trending in our game. I feel like we're playing solid. We're a good team, and I think there's still room for us to grow.
"The next two games are obviously huge. We've got to be prepared to play."
Mangiapane had two shots and two minutes in penalties over 14:50 of ice time in the quarterfinal - a physical, intense affair that the Flames forward suggested would've been better opposite his Flames teammate.
Pospisil, who had seven points (3G, 4A) was forced to exit the tournament because of an upper-body injury sustained in Slovakia's final preliminary round game on Tuesday.
"It sucks for him, obviously," said Mangiapane, who himself has six points (1G, 5A) through eight games. "He's a big player for this team and everything like that so it would've been fun to play against him.
"I will still rub it in his face, though, that we won."
Canada jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead against Slovakia, with goals by Jared McCann and Pierre-Luc Dubois coming within the opening five minutes of puck drop.
A 3-1 lead, courtesy a Nick Paul tally, heading into the third period turned into an eventual 6-3 final with a rambunctious third filled with physicality and finish.
"I think our start was big, coming out with that two-goal lead right away and just staying on it from there," Mangiapane said. "When we're playing as a five-man unit and we're talking and communicating, working lows-to-highs, getting pucks to the net, we're a tough team to play against.
"We need to keep that up, realistically, and it should help us along the way."
It was a fraught affair, with intensity rising from the preliminary bouts Canada faced leading up to the elimination phases.
"The stress did as well, to be honest," coach Andre Tourigny said. "The quarterfinal is always a swing game where it's a really tough one. You saw last year, Latvia beat the Swiss and the Swiss were one of the elite teams in the tournament. It's a tough game to win.
"Those guys come here for one reason - they want to win. They're not paid to come here. They want to represent their country and they want to win.
"They're willing to make some sacrifices."
For the hardware.
Canada prevailed, and is one step closer.
One down.
Two to go.
Canada, which finished first in Group A with a grand total of seven wins - including two in overtime - for a 19-point round robin, will face Switzerland in semifinal action on Saturday after they finished with an impressive 5-1-0-1 record.
It'll determine whether there could be more gold in Mangiapane's future.
Or the alternative.
One's obviously preferable to the other.
"Essentially it's Game 7," Mangiapane said. "That's the feeling. You could see it out there. Every hit, every blocked shot, every chip of the puck in, chipping it out... those little things matter in these close games.
"Win you stay in. Lose you go home... or next game we play for bronze."
