Tri-City Star Leads Canada To World Junior Title

Canada won its fourth consecutive World Junior Hockey Championship on Thursday night, getting two goals and an assist from Tri-City American Daymond Langkow to beat Sweden 4-1.

It’s the seventh gold medal in nine years and the ninth overall for the Canadians, tying Russia for the record. Canada has won 17 consecutive games in the annual tournament, which features the world’s top teenage hockey players.

Russia beat the Czech Republic 4-1 earlier Thursday to take the bronze medal. The United States finished fifth with an 8-7 overtime victory over Finland.

Canadian goalie Jose Theodore earned a selection to the all-tournament team, along with defenseman Nolan Baumgartner and forward Jarome Iginla.

Langkow, the No. 5 pick in the first round of the 1995 NHL draft by Tampa Bay, put Canada on the board just 1:36 into the game when he outskated the defense to a loose puck inside the Swedish zone.

Markus Nilsson tied it for Sweden at 8:41 of the first. But Langkow struck again 13 minutes into the second with just five seconds left in a power play for the game winner.

Jarome Iginla knocked Swede David Halvardsson of his skates behind the net, stole the puck and fed it behind the back of the goal to a wide-open Langkow.