It was only a couple of hours ago that the Winnipeg Jets lost game two against the Montreal Canadiens of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bell MTS Place, but there is still hockey to watch this morning involving Winnipeg Jets prospects.
Both Cole Perfetti and Leon Gawanke, who played the whole 2021 regular season for the Manitoba Moose, will be in action today at the 2021 IIHF World Championship.
These players and their respective countries are at the business end of the tournament competing in the semifinal stage.
If Leon Gawanke and Cole Perfetti can win today, then we would have an all Winnipeg Jets final at the World Championship
Although the first semifinal game of the day is an early matchup, at 6:15 a.m. central time, this will definitely be a must watch game.
Cole Perfetti and Canada will face off against the United States at Arena Riga in Latvia. Both teams had a completely different path to the semis. The United States was dominant throughout group play en route to a first place finish, while Canada needed help on the final day of round-robin play to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
The USA was terrific again in their quarterfinal matchup against Slovakia on Thursday. The United States completely controlled the game and won in commanding 6-1 fashion.
Canada and Perfetti had an extremely tough matchup against, the top seed from Group A, Russia in the quarters. This game was absolutely fantastic to watch.
Canada and Russia traded chances throughout and needed overtime to find a winner. In one of the nicest goals of the tournament, Troy Stecher made a beautiful threw the legs move and backdoor pass to Andrew Mangiapane who one-timed the puck home to give Canada the dramatic 3-2 win.
THEY DID IT!!! 🇨🇦
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) June 3, 2021
Canada wins in overtime!!
Andrew Mangiapane is the hero in OT to defeat Russia! 🔥@HockeyCanada #IIHFWorlds #ROCCAN @NHLFlames pic.twitter.com/xeIcJBUTzV
This will be the second time during the tournament that Canada and the United States will meet. Canada will be looking for a much better performance after losing that game 5-1 to the U.S.
In the other semifinal game, Gawanke and Germany will look to continue their Cinderella story to a gold medal when they face off against Finland. Puck drop for this game is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. CST.
Germany also won their quarterfinal game in dramatic fashion against Switzerland. Switzerland had a 2-1 lead in the dying stages of the game, but Germany pulled their goaltender and Leon Gawanke was able to score and tie the game with under a minute left in the contest.
The game eventually went into a shootout and in the final and fifth round, Germany scored to win the game 3-2.
Germany will have a tough test against Finland, who have only lost one game throughout this tournament. These teams also met during preliminary play in which a late goal boosted Finland to a 2-1 win.
Both of these games can be watched on TSN in Canada and the NHL Network in the United States. The winners of each matchup will face off for Gold on Monday, June 6 at 12:15 p.m. central, while the losers will play for third place earlier on Monday morning.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Which teams do you will advance to the finals? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats and Videos Provided by the IIHF*