Dominant Canadians cruise past defending champions USA to seal semi-final ticket

[p]The Canadians came out flying, skating deep into the American zone where they created several scoring opportunities and let the shots-on-goal statistics 7-0 at one stage, however, without being able to beat goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cooley-devin/rFpjhg1B/"]Devin Cooley[/a], who was rock solid in goal for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/north-americans/E9FlKDzP/"]Americans[/a].[/p][p]The Canadians, who suffered a sensational defeat in the quarter-final against host nation [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/denmark/2mX8FleU/"]Denmark[/a] in last year's tournament, finally managed to break the deadlock when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/celebrini-macklin/I7wgduSQ/"]Macklin Celebrini[/a], during a powerplay launched a perfect shot past the glove of Cooley at 18:31 to give [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/dSsR389c/"]Canada[/a] a well deserved lead.[/p][embed guid="35892cf6-b26c-4496-9c7d-75b80b4f5021" url="https://x.com/PuckReportNHL/status/2060039311492301010" social-type="twitter" /][p]Canada began the second period in the same fashion and dominated possession in the U.S. zone for long stretches. Clearly overwhelmed, the Americans generally defended well, but were finally forced to surrender when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/holloway-dylan/K8MiKQcH/"]Dylan Holloway[/a] initially had a shot blocked by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ufko-ryan/l8NH4Hbm/"]Ryan Ufko[/a], but reacted quickly to put the rebound away midway through the period. [/p][p]The Americans certainly weren't without their chances to get back into the game in the second period, but Canadian keeper Jet Greaves produced a string of superb reflex saves to preserve the comfortable lead. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/brown-connor/AB8ewHjn/"]Connor Brown[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/crosby-sidney/UTbIZpKC/"]Sidney Crosby[/a] then each added empty-netters late in the third to seal the win. For the Canadians, the win will be a small consolation for their passionate fans after the Americans went on to beat their bitter rivals in the gold-medal game in both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey tournaments in Milan/Cortina earlier in the year. [/p]