WORLD JUNIORS PREVIEW: CANADA VS. RUSSIA It just wouldn’t be the IIHF World Junior Championship without Canada vs. Russia in the medal round, would it? Another chapter in hockey’s most enduring rivalry will be written when the Canadians and Russians face off in Edmonton with a spot in the gold medal game on the line. Canada didn’t have its best game and finished on the wrong end of a 29-25 shot count, but it booked its spot in the final four with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on Saturday night. Devon Levi continued his brick-wall impression with a 29-save shutout, and three players who won gold last year – Dylan Cozens, Bowen Byram and Connor McMichael – did the scoring. The Russians survived a scare in their Saturday quarterfinal, getting 18 saves from Yaroslav Askarov to secure a narrow 2-1 win over Germany. Vasili Ponomaryov scored shorthanded in the first period and Danil Bashkirov added the game-winner in the second to put Russia in the semifinals for the 10th time in 11 years. Canada earned a 1-0 pre-tournament win over the Russians on Dec. 23, getting 23 saves from Levi and a third-period goal from Jamie Drysdale. But the last meeting that counted came 364 days ago, when the Canadians erased a two-goal deficit in the final 11 minutes and Akil Thomas scored with 3:58 left to for a 4-3 win and an 18th World Juniors gold medal. It has to be Levi, right? What the Canadian goaltender is doing in Edmonton is other-worldly. His shutout of the Czechs was just the latest lights-out performance from the Dollard-des-Ormeaux native, who leads the tournament with five wins, a miniscule 0.64 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage. Levi has played 280 minutes thus far, more than any other goaltender, and has given up only three goals. And how many of those have come at five-on-five? That would be zero. Canada has seen some amazing puck-stopping performance at the World Juniors (Waite, Legace, Pogge, Price, Hart, Hofer … the list goes on), but this might be the best. The Russians have leaned heavily on their top six forwards – Ponomaryov, Yegor Afanasyev, Rodion Amirov, Arseni Gritsyuk, Marat Khusnutdinov and Vasili Podkolzin have combined for 12 goals and 27 points through five games, while the other eight forwards on the roster have put up just four goals and eight points. And then there’s Askarov, who stopped all 22 shots he faced in two periods of work in the pre-tournament game, and has a history of playing well against Canada on the international stage. This game will be littered with NHL prospects. The Canadians will ice a roster that includes a record-setting 19 first-round picks, including all 13 forwards. Quinton Byfield, who went No. 2 to the Los Angeles Kings in October, is the highest-drafted Canadian, followed closely by Byram (fourth overall, Colorado, 2019). The Russians have four first-round selections from the 2020 draft – Askarov (11th overall, Nashville), Amirov (15th overall, Toronto), Shakhir Mukhamadullin (20th overall, New Jersey) and Yegor Chinakhov (21st overall, Columbus) – plus Podkolzin, who went to the Vancouver Canucks with the 10th pick in 2019. Is there a more historic rivalry at the World Juniors than this one? This will be game No. 28 between Canada and Russia since the 1993 tournament, which was the first for Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The first 27 have been pretty darn even – Canada has 14 wins compared to 12 for the Russians, with one tie. Canada has had a narrow edge in semifinal showdowns, winning three of the five (in 1996, 1997 and 2009). Counting the Soviet Union years (and one match-up as the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1992), the Canadians and Russians have met 41 times since the first World Juniors in 1977, with the results split almost right down the middle – 20 wins for Canada, 19 for Russia and two ties. In the first semifinal of the night, it's a rematch of last year's gold-medal game that saw the Canadians score three unanswered goals to come back and beat the Russians. On Monday, the stakes are high once again as the winner plays for gold and the loser can either win bronze or nothing at all. Canada has six players from that squad including Dylan Cozens who has a 2021 tournament-best seven goals and defenseman Jamie Drysdale who was asked at Sunday's team availability if he thinks there will be any emotional carryover from last year. "100 percent I think there will be carryover," he said matter of factly. "We played each other in the finals last year so, obviously, we want to maintain where we're at and we obviously want to come out on top. But in saying that, obviously feel like they're gonna have something to prove because we came out on top last year. I think it'll be a really good game on both ends and I think everyone's looking forward to playing in that game. It should be a really exciting, hard-fought game." These two teams did meet up in a pre-tournament tune-up that saw Canada win but was overshadowed by captain Kirby Dach's wrist injury causing him to miss the tournament. It should be noted that in that game, the Canadians lone goal (it was a 1-0 finish) was not against Yaroslav Askarov who they're expected to face on Monday night. Levi, a freshman at Northeastern University, earned an invite to Canada's World Junior camp thanks to a stellar performance at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in Dawson Creek, B.C. Levi was named tournament MVP as Canada East fell to Russia in double overtime of the championship game. Shakhir Mukhamadullin, who's also at the World Juniors, scored the winner on the power play. "It was heartbreaking," said Levi, who made 39 saves in the final. "I still remember exactly how I felt and hopefully we can do something about it tomorrow ... I'm just looking forward to getting a second chance." Levi owns the best save percentage at the World Juniors (.967) and shut out the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. Afterwards head coach Andre Tourigny admitted he wasn't sure Levi had this type of performance in him. "I won't say I knew him and had no doubt," Canada's head coach told TSN's Ryan Rishaug. "We've liked him since the beginning. Since he was with us, we love what he brings. We love his energy. We love his focus. We love his attention to detail. We love everything about him, but if I'm telling you, 'Yeah, I knew before,' that is not true." Canada's staff wasn't sure Levi's play would translate from Junior A to the World Juniors, but the Florida Panthers seventh-round pick has silenced all the questions about the team's goaltending situation.