Germany continued its miracle run at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Friday, booking an unlikely ticket to the gold-medal game after adding Team Canada to its upset list in a 4-3 semifinal win.
Canada pushed back hard in the third period, pulling two goals back but the Germans held on — just.
"It's as disappointing as it gets right there,'' said Canadian defenceman Mat Robinson. ``A tough loss for us and we let our country down today. It's a tough pill to swallow.''
"It's too little too late. We shot ourselves in the foot in the beginning of the game and we weren't able to come back from it,'' he added.
It was only Germany's second victory in 30 meetings with Canada in Olympic and world championship play. The first was a 5-1 win at the 1996 world championships.
The Canadian men had won the last 11 meetings, outscoring the Germans 58-15, and had gone 11-0-1 against the Germans since the 1996 loss.
Canada will play the Czech Republic for the bronze medal on Saturday while the Germans go for gold Sunday against the entry from Russia. The Russians blanked the Czech Republic 3-0 in the earlier semifinal.
Winnipeg-born Brooks Macek, Matthias Plachta, Frank Mauer and Patrick Hager scored for Germany, which led 1-0 after the first period and 4-1 after the second.
Robinson, Gilbert Brule and Derek Roy scored for Canada.