Canada shook off the sting of being upset by Germany in the semifinals to beat the Czech Republic 6-4 and win Olympic men’s hockey bronze Saturday in PyeongChang.
Vernon’s Andrew Ebbett scored twice – his first two goals of the tournament – as did captain Chris Kelly, as Canada won its sixth men’s hockey medal in the last eight Olympics.
Derek Roy and Wojtek Wolski had the other goals for Canada, who received a bounce back performance in net from Kevin Poulin. He made 30 saves, including 14 in the first period, a day after allowing four German goals on 15 shots in a 4-3 defeat.
Canada led 2-1 after the opening period. There was no scoring in the middle frame, and Canada jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third.
The Czechs looked to have made it 5-3 but a goal was disallowed for goalie interference.
Ebbett missed a great chance for his hat trick goal, firing wide on a three-on-one but stuck with the play and centred the puck out front. After a hit goal post, Wolski put the puck past goalie Pavel Francouz for a 6-2 Canada lead with 4:37 left to go.
The Czechs, however, refused to quit, scoring twice in 90 seconds to cut the lead to 6-4. The second goal came after a too many men on the ice penalty against Canada, and with the Czech goalie pulled for a two-man advantage.
The win for Canada avenged a 3-2 shootout loss in the preliminary round.
