Blackhawks News: Canada is headed to the Gold Medal GameVincent Pariseon January 5, 2023 at 12:00 pm

The Chicago Blackhawks are dealing with some issues at the NHL level. They aren’t good, Patrick Kane might be injured, and the trade deadline is now under two months away.

It is going to be a very interesting couple of weeks ahead. This team is all about the rebuild that they just started and getting themselves back to relevancy through the draft and prospect development.

However, the World Junior Championships have provided plenty of excitement to Blackhawks fans and all fans across the National Hockey League. Ten great hockey countries have come together and put on a great show.

On Wednesday, we had the semi-finals. Blackhawks prospect Victor Stjernborg and Team Sweden were defeated in overtime by Team Czech. The final score was 2-1 as the Czech team is now headed to the Gold Medal Game.

The Blackhawks do have some prospects headed to the Gold Medal Game.

Later after that game, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan del Mastro, and Nolan Allan all suited up for Team Canada against Team USA. They prevailed as Canada defeated the US by a final score of 6-2. The only Blackhawks prospect who earned a point is del Mastro.

His assist came on a very nice goal scored by Connor Bedard. As you know, Bedard will be the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The Blackhawks are hoping to be that team so they have to be thrilled that their prospects have been playing well with him in this tournament so far.

Bedard’s goal there got Canada back in the game after going down 2-1. From there, they scored five more goals (he added an assist) to take the aforementioned 6-2 victory.

Adam Fantilli, who is projected to go one pick after Bedard in the draft was the one who gave Canada the lead for good in this win. Of course, Blackhawks fans will like hearing that in case they are the ones drafting him later this year.

Fantilli might not be quite as good as Bedard but few people are, including players already in the NHL. He has a lot of developing to do but he very well could become an elite NHL player in his own right. His goal and assist really helped Canada advance.

Now, these guys along with their great Canada teammates are looking to win the Gold over Team Czech who has had an outstanding tournament. In fact, you might remember that they already beat Canada during the group play portion.

That was the first game of the tournament for both teams and a lot has happened since then. Team Canada learned that they can’t get too fancy all the time and Connor Bedard has exploded on the scene. Team Czech kept finding ways to win big games and they hope to do it again.

This rematch promises to be an outstanding final for an outstanding tournament. Either Team Czech is going to continue playing their game their way and pull off another upset or Canada is going to get revenge by getting what they need from their top players. It should be fun.

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