Worlds: USA, Canada Reach Semis

The semifinal games at the 2023 IIHF World Championship medal round are set. On Saturday at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland. Team Canada will take on Latvia at 7:20 a.m. Philadelphia time (2:20 p.m. local time in Finland). At 11:20 a.m. Philadelphia time (6:20 p.m. locally), Team USA will play Germany.

On Sunday, the semifinal winners will play for the gold medal, while the two defeated teams in the semis will play earlier in the day for the bronze medal.

Throughout the tournament to date, Flyers 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier has been a driving force for Team USA. He will enter the semifinal round with seven goals and nine points to his credit in eight games played. Gauthier leads all players in the tournament with 51 shots on goal and has not been on the ice for a single opposition goal (he's plus-11).

Gauthier's Team USA teammate, Flyers/Phantoms defenseman Ronnie Attard, has dressed in four of the eight games to date. Attard scored a goal in a preliminary round win over Finland. He's averaged 13:57 of ice time in the four games he's played.

Meanwhile, veteran Flyers center/winger Scott Laughton has provided for Team Canada the same brand of two-way intensity and leadership that he provides in the NHL for Philadelphia. Several as an alternate captain for the Canadian national team, "Laughts" has averaged 17:50 per game of ice time and chipped in five points (1g, 4a) and a plus-five rating through eight games.

The quarterfinal round on Thursday saw two upsets. In front of a rabid home crowd at Arena Riga, Latvia scored twice in the third period to stun Sweden, 3-1. This was a major upset. The other was more of a minor upset.

Previously unbeaten Switzerland, the first-place team in Group B during the round-robin phase, continued a distressing pattern of falling flat in the medal round *(except for a silver medal in 2018) after excelling in the preliminary matches. Team Germany defeated the Swiss, 3-1.

The key to the win: With the score knotted at 1-1 in the second period, the Germans killed off a five-minute boarding penalty on Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider. Germany then received an even strength goal by Buffalo Sabres center JJ Peterka and a shorthanded goal by Nico Sturm to take a two-goal lead. The Swiss team never recovered.

Team USA, which exited the preliminary round with an unblemished 7-0-0 record in Group A (six regulation wins plus an overtime victory against Sweden), did not let the same fate happen to them that subsequently befell the Swiss.

The Americans methodically dismantled Czechia (Czech Republic) by a 3-0 score. Team USA was the better club for roughly 55 of the game's 60 minutes, minus a brief push by the Czechs at the start of the second period.

Czech goalie Karel Vejmelka (Arizona Coyotes) limited the first period damage to a single goal as Team USA took a 1-0 lead and 11-2 shots on net advantage on a goal by Calgary Flames prospect Matt Coronato at the 12:04 mark. Coronato tallied on a turnaround shot off of a Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens) rebound as the puck went off two defenders' skates and into the net.

In the second period, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix built a 2-0 lead for the Americans. Through 40 minutes, shots were 25-11 in favor of the Americans.At 9:57 of the third period, Gauthier opened a 3-0 edge for Team USA as he scored on a bang-bang play directly off a TJ Tynan (Ontario Reign/LA Kings) faceoff win.Tynan leads Team USA with 11 points (1g, 10a), largely on the strength of helpers on Gauthier goals.

The final shot on goal disparity was 34-15 in favor of Team USA. Attard was a healthy scratch for the second straight game and the fourth time in the last five matches. However, he has held his own when head coach David Quinn has given Attard the opportunity to play.

Thursday's marquee quarterfinal game, given the venue and the reputational luster of the matchup, was Team Canada's 4-1 win over the host Finns in Tampere. Laughton's linemate, Buffalo Sabres winger Jack Quinn, put the Canadians ahead at 7:12 of the first period, and Canada played from ahead the rest of the game.

St. Louis Blues left winger Sammy Blais built a 2-0 lead for Team Canada midway through the second period before Arizona Coyotes/ Tucson Roadrunners left winger Michael Carcone added a third goal early in the third period. Finnish veteran Teemu Hartikainen, a former Edmonton Oilers left/right winger who has spent the last decade playing in the KHL and Switzerland, got the Finns on the board at 6:52 of the final stanza.

The Lions were unable to solve Montreal Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault again. The netminder finished with 29 saves on 30 shots. Veteran right winger Tyler Toffoli of the Calgary Flames rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal.

Laughton logged 17:59 of ice time against Finland across 24 shifts. He recorded three shots on goal. The alternate captain won six of 16 faceoffs, primarily matched against Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) center Sakari Manninen or former Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks forward Juho Lammikko.