Canada defeats Czech Republic in World Juniors semifinals

BUFFALO -- Drake Batherson scored a hat trick to lead Canada to a 7-2 win against the Czech Republic in the semifinals of the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Batherson, selected by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round (No. 121) in the 2017 NHL Draft, scored two power-play goals on deflections of shots by defenseman Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche). The first gave Canada a 2-1 lead at 18:08 of the first period, and the second made it 3-1 at 7:48 of the second.

"I never really played that position in front of the net] before until this tournament," Batherson said. "In that practice there a couple weeks before the tournament I was really working on my tips, and stuff like that, and it's a new position and I seem to be liking it there."
***[Related: [Complete World Juniors Championship coverage]*
Batherson's third goal came when he drove the net and put a shot that got through Czech Republic goalie Josef Korenar (San Jose Sharks) to make it 6-1 at 16:58 of the second period. Korenar was replaced by Jakub Skarek. Korenar made 17 saves, Skarek made 15.
Batherson scored twice in Canada's 8-2 win against Switzerland in the quarterfinals and has seven goals in the tournament.
Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues) and Sam Steel (Anaheim Ducks) each had a goal and an assist for Canada, who will face Sweden in the gold-medal game at 8 p.m. ET on Friday (NHLN, TSN, RDS).
"They [Sweden] have a lot of skills," Canada coach Dominique Ducharme said. "They have a lot of skills and they're playing well. There's a reason that they're in the final, and it's going to be a great game again."
Canada is in the gold-medal game for the second straight year. They lost 5-4 in a shootout to the United States in Toronto last year.
"I'm very lucky to have another chance at this," said Carter Hart, who was the losing goalie in the 2017 final. "And I know last year was heartbreaking for us, so I know this year we're really lucky to have another opportunity for this. And we're going to prepare."

Filip Zadina (2018 Draft eligible) scored twice for the Czech Republic, who will face the United States in the bronze-medal game at 4 p.m. ET on Friday (NHLN, TSN, RDS).
Zadina gave the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead at 5:55 of the first period when he deked past Canada defenseman Kale Clague (Los Angeles Kings) and put a wrist shot past Hart (Philadelphia Flyers). Hart made 18 saves.
Steel made it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 15:05, which was followed by Batherson's first 3:03 later.
Max Comtois (Ducks) made it 4-1 at 9:22 after a pass from Brett Howden (Tampa Bay Lightning). Kyrou made it 5-1 at 12:15.
Boris Katchouk (Lightning) made it 7-1 at 5:15 of the third period. Zadina's second goal of the game, and seventh of the tournament, at 10:11, made it 7-2.
"I was glad to play well, but I'm so sad because we lost," Zadina said. "My goals mean nothing. We will do anything tomorrow … to bring a medal back to the Czech Republic."