Canada
Not to say that Canada is magic at this tournament, but as usual, when PO starts, the “clone” of the World Cup gathers and what happened in the group, i.e. the defeat against Norway and so on, fades into oblivion like a nightmare. Here too, Turinya’s shields turn on speed when you need it most. First, they defeated the Finns in the quarter-finals without an option 4:1, and then they definitely put the emphasis on the experience and speed of Latvia 4:2, although before the third period they were worse than the Balts 1-2. However, the game of the North Americans does not look perfect and I am far from thinking that they will get an easy victory over Germany in the final.
Germany
For the first time in the 21st century, the German team of Harold Kreis will play in the final of the World Cup. For 70 years, the Germans have not had medals in world forums, and here silver is already provided. However, because the team improves during the tournament, they look great physically, they are perfectly played and with character, gold in Tampere cannot be ruled out. Starting the championship with 3 defeats from the top (Sweden, Finland and USA and all in 1 disc), the team gradually changed and turned hard. First at the end of the group stage (5-0 against France, 7-2 against Hungary and 6-4 against Denmark), and then in VP mode. First, the Germans sent the Alpines to the break 3:1, and in the semi-finals they made up for the losses 0:2 and 2:3, leveling the score 1.5 minutes before the end of regular time. Germany played defense in extra time, but Tiffels’ breakthrough followed by dribbling and top-nine shots brought historic success to the Bundestim.
Forecast
Germany has never lost to anyone in this tournament by 2 goals and I think this trend will continue until the end of the World Cup. The Canadians don’t impress me with their offensive game like the Americans do at this tournament. they drive well, they create, but they also don’t look too perfect on their gates. The Germans, unlike their rivals, have a team that has been rolled over for years, in which the young Peterka from Buffalo perfectly fit in with Zayder, Muller, Kahun. An indicator of the team’s class is adding from match to match over the distance of the tournament – the Germans are successfully dealing with this. In my opinion, they are not weaker than the Canadians, so we are playing here with a positive underdog handicap that has yet to concede 2 goals in this tournament.