Team Canada advances to the Gold Medal game.

At the outset of the International Ice Hockey Federation's 2021 World Championship it looked it would be a very forgettable tournament for Canadian hockey fans, but an incredible comeback from the Canadians over the course of this tournament has now resulted in an opportunity for Canada to claim yet another Gold Medal in the sport that it is best known for.

On Saturday the Canadians faced off against long time rivals Team USA in what was expected to be a hotly contested matchup and it did not disappoint. It was the Canadians who got on the board first thanks to the efforts of New York Rangers forward Brandon Pirri who capitalized on a big juicy rebound just two minutes into the game to give the Canadians an early lead, and simultaneously putting the Americans on the backfoot. 

As I said this one was hotly contested and the Americans would not go quietly, responding before the period had come to an end thanks to a great tip in front of the net from another New York Ranger in Colin Blackwell. On a side note Blackwell has had himself a very solid tournament with a pair of goals in the previous game for Team USA as well.

It was at this point however that Andrew Mangiapane made his presence felt and stepped up as the hero of the game for the Canadians. The Calgary Flames forward recorded his first of the game and Canada's second of the contest after a mad scramble in front of the American net, and Canada would never surrender the lead after this point in the game.

It looked like Canada would take a 3 - 1 lead in the second frame after a tip in from Adam Henrique, however that goal would be overturned by the officials which kept this a one goal game.

After less than a minute had gone by in the game's third and final period it was once again Mangiapane who came up huge, finding himself on the breakaway where he made no mistake. This time his goal gave the Canadians a 3 - 1 lead that would stick on the scoreboard and would prove to be the eventual game winner for the Canadians. Mangiapane is making a strong case to be Canada's MVP in this tournament with 11 points in just 6 games,  7 of which have been goals.

For the full highlights of today's game check out the video below courtesy of the IIHF.