Canadian superstars open up after semifinal defeat: "Brutal"

ZÜRICH. The NHL stars from Canada experienced a 2-4 loss to Finland in the semifinals of the World Championships on Saturday. The Lions continue to the finals with the victory, while Canada faces a bronze match.

Canadian hockey legend Sidney Crosby did not make excuses for the loss after the match, but admitted outright that Finland was stronger.

– They were good, as we expected. They play well as a team and are good in the lead. We had good control of the game at 2-1, until we lost the lead in the second period. They gained confidence from that and defended really well afterwards.

– That’s not how you want to play if you want to beat Finland, Crosby admitted honestly.

The Canadian legend acknowledged that getting motivated for tomorrow’s bronze game against Norway is challenging.

– We always aim for gold. A loss is something we just have to live with and gather ourselves for tomorrow.

This NHL season, Mark Scheifele, 33, who has achieved a career-high of 103 points, also admitted Finland’s superiority without excuses.

– The result was obviously not what we were looking for. Finland played a good game and defended hard.

Scheifele admitted that the dream of gold being shattered hit hard.

– We came to play for gold, and the knowledge that it won’t happen is brutal.

– They played a good game. Their goalie has played well throughout the tournament, Scheifele noted, highlighting the excellent performance of Justus Annunen, who defended the goal for the Lions.

Scheifele’s respect for the Lions’ captain Aleksander Barkov was also evident during the interview.

– A fantastic player. He missed an entire year, so it’s great to see him back on the ice. He is one of the elite players in the NHL, Scheifele praised the Florida Panthers superstar who scored 1+1 in the World Championship semifinals.

The Lions will face Switzerland in the World Championship final on Sunday. The match starts at 21:20.