Canada ran into goaltending trouble early and had to switch from Jake Paterson to Zachary Fucale, but Fucale has embraced the starter’s role and been an integral part of the team’s improvement over the last few days.

“We had a practice game against them,” Saros said of Canada. They’re a highly skillful and hard-working team. They’re a really good team.”

The Finns have been the less consistent team. They won an easy game against Norway, lost a close one to Sweden, followed with a big win over Russia, lost to the weaker Swiss in a shootout, and then trailed the Czechs 3-1 late in the second period before rallying for the win in the quarter-finals.

The Canadians had an easy game against Germany to start and then played its worst game, a 5-4 shootout loss to the Czechs. But since then, they have won three in a row, found their goalie, and capitalized on their chances. Whereas Finland has yet to find its consistent stride, Canada has done what every coach wants his team to do in a short tournament – improve every game.

That improvement is directly related to several factors. For starters, Anthony Mantha has emerged as a bona fide threat when he is on the ice. Big and strong with nice scoring touch around the goal, he is tied for the tournament lead with eleven points (with Filip Forsberg of Sweden).

Canada’s defence now boasts both Aaron Ekblad and Griffin Reinhart, meaning that coach Brent Sutter can have one of them out there most of the game. They are a formidable wall on the blue line and have been integral in minimizing scoring chances on Fucale.

For Finland, if the idea is to stop Mantha to win, the team must also rely for offence from the combination of scorer Saku Mäenalanen and passer Teuvo Teräväinen. The former has scored in every game but one, six goals in all, and Teräväinen has assisted on five of them. In all, Teräväinen leads all players with nine assists (no goals), while Mäenalanen leads all players with six goals and is in the top ten of scoring with seven points.

Teräväinen played the U20 last year when the team finished a disappointing seventh. “Last year was such a big disappointment,” he said after the quarter-finals victory. “I didn’t want to do that again. It’s a big win for me, of course. I’m the captain of this team and I try to show leadership.”

On matching up against Canada, he is not daunted. “Canada’s a very good team, of course,” he said. “Every year they’re a big team. They haven’t won now for a couple of years. They’re hungry, I think. We maybe have smaller guys, but we have a lot of intensity. We play 100 per cent every game. It doesn’t matter how big you are if you play hard and really want to win.”