Canada cruises past Czech Republic to set up gold-medal tilt with Sweden

Drake Batherson notched a hat trick as Canada advanced to the gold-medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championship with a 7-2 drubbing of the Czech Republic in the second semifinal Thursday night in Buffalo.

Boris Katchouk, Jordan Kyrou, Maxime Comtois, and Sam Steel also scored for Canada in the rout.

Three of Canada's goals came on the power play, and the team nearly doubled the Czechs in the shots-on-goal department, out-shooting them by a 39-20 margin.

Filip Zadina poured in both Czech Republic goals, opening the scoring less than six minutes in and collecting the game's final marker midway through the third period.

The Canadian squad will face Sweden on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The Swedes doubled up the United States 4-2 earlier Thursday in the first semifinal. The Czech Republic will battle the U.S. for bronze at 4 p.m. ET on Friday.