Coyotes’ Smith posts shutout to advance Canada to World Hockey Championship final
May 16, 2015, 3:57 PM | Updated: 3:57 pm
Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith earned a shutout in Canada’s 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the semifinals of the World Hockey Championship Saturday.
In front of a reportedly raucous pro-Czech crowd in Prague, Smith’s shutout was his second straight game without surrendering a goal. He came up with 23 saves to help advance Canada to the championship game versus Russia.
“I think we played a solid game and that’s most important,” Smith told CTV News. “We were in a tight hockey game all the way through and we handled it very well.”
Through nine games in the tournament, Smith has ceded only 11 goals, good enough for a .931 save percentage, which ranks as the third-best save percentage of any goalie in the tournament behind Connor Hellebuyck of the United States and Sebastian Dahm of Denmark.
“Smitty was unbelievable,” said Canadian defenseman Tyson Barrie. “The Czechs came out firing the first 10 minutes there. He kinda kept us in it.
“He’s been doing that all tournament though. He’s been outstanding and we’re lucky to have him back there.”
Smith and his fellow Canadians will seek their first world championship since 2007 when they take the ice versus the Russians on Sunday.
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