Sochi: Canada advance to second straight Olympic final

Sochi: Jamie Benn scored early in the second period and Carey Price stopped 31 shots as defending champ Canada defeated the United States 1-0 to reach the hockey gold medal match on Friday.

Canada will face Sweden in the final Sunday after the Swedes beat Finland 2-1 in the other semi final. Benn scored on a nice give-and-go with defenceman Jay Bouwmeester with 1:41 gone in the second for Canada who are trying to win their first gold medal outside of North America since 1952 in Oslo. Benn passed the puck back to the point to Bouwmeester who immediately fired it back to Benn in front of the goal for the deflection. Canada beat the USA in the gold medal game four years ago in Vancouver when Sidney Crosby scored in overtime. Canada and the USA also met in the gold medal match of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games which was also won by Canada. Canada`s win comes just one day after the Canadian women won the gold medal by storming back from a two goal deficit to beat the USA in an overtime thriller.