While the NHL's best continue to duke it out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for those teams that didn't make the playoffs or who were eliminated early, they still have the IIHF World Championships to shift their focus towards.
The tournament started on the 10th of May and is set to close out on the 26th. However, we still have a few key matchups to get through including Canada vs Switzerland and Sweden vs the host nation in the Czech Republic in their respective Semi-Finals clashes.
Holmberg and Team Sweden took down Finland in overtime during their tense Quarter-Finals matchup by a score of 2-1, while Kampf and Czechia took down the Americans in a 1-0 finish. The Americans stumbled yet again in another IIHF World Championships as they haven't won gold since 1933 nor have they won a silver medal since 1950.
As for Tavares and Team Canada, they took down the Slovakians by a score of 6-3, while the Swiss defeated Germany by a score of 3-1 to set up what should be another spirited contest between these two nations.
Tavares is second in scoring for Canada with 1 goal and 9 points in 7 games, behind Dylan Cozens who has 8 goals and 10 points. Holmberg has had a tidy tournament with 6 assists in 8 games with a plus-9 rating and Kampf has added 4 assists of his own in 7 games while posting a plus-4 rating.
You can watch Holmberg face-off against Kampf on Saturday morning at 8:20 A.M. ET, which will lead us right into Tavares and the Canadians who will take on Switzerland at 12:20 P.M. ET. Both the gold and the bronze medal games will be played on the following day on Sunday.
Regardless of whether Sweden or Czechia wins tomorrow, the Leafs will have one guaranteed player playing for a gold medal. If Canada beats Switzerland, the Leafs will have 2 players in the gold medal game with one guaranteed to win gold.
POLL | ||
24 MAI | 333 ANSWERS At least two Maple Leafs guaranteed to medal at World Championships Who will win gold in the IIHF World Championships this year? | ||
Canada | 187 | 56.2 % |
Switzerland | 27 | 8.1 % |
Sweden | 38 | 11.4 % |
Czech Republic | 81 | 24.3 % |
List of polls |