Canada Defeats Russia 4-3 At World Juniors, Russian TV Misleads Fans

With a comeback victory, the Canadian Junior National team defeated Russia 4-3 to win the 2020 World Junior Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic.

This was the eighth meeting since 2002 of these two nations at the annual U-20 tournament. Canada improves its record to 5-3 and brings back the country’s 18th title overall.

The game started scoreless after one period. As the scoreboard grew, Canada trailed by one in the middle of the third, ultimately tying it up. With 3:57 left in regulation, Los Angeles Kings prospect Akil Thomas scored the game-winning goal, giving Canada the title.

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But fans in Russia were given misinformation after a confusingly timed TV repeat of the 2011 final aired on one of the two channels showing the finals. The other channel was live.

Some fans witnessed the disappointing loss, but many saw the 9-year old comeback and 5-3 victory from 2011.

Fans celebrated with messages on social media, or complaints about the wrong score. It became too hard to determine jokes versus those who had been shown the wrong game.

In an Instagram post, Yana Tarasenko, wife of St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, said her husband watched the 2011 game thinking it was live “until he saw himself in the game.”

Tarasenko played for the winning Russian team in 2011.

Match TV, the channel airing the wrong game, did not respond to comment and it is unclear why the television channel decided to show the 2011 final at the same time as the live broadcast.