Two Central Okanagan hockey players are returning home from the U18 World Championships in Finland with gold medals.

Lake Country’s Tij Iginla and Kelowna’s Ryder Ritchie assisted in Team Canada’s win in the finals against Team U.S.A.

The Americans hit the scoreboard first with a single goal in the first period.

Ritchie tied things up 1-1 for Team Canada early in the second and Iginla assisted on a goal by Gavin McKenna to close the period at 2-2.

Things heated up in the final period as Canada out shot the U.S. 14 to 4.

Iginla and Ritchie both collected assists in the third. Iginla scored a power play goal at 14:19 in the third.

The American team scored shortly after, before pulling their goalie.

The final goal of the game was an empty-netter scored by Canada’s game leader McKenna. Canada took home the gold with a 6-4 win.

Iginla collected six goals and six assists over the tournament, while Ritchie finished the championships with four goals and four assists.

In the semi-final game, Iginla was awarded Player of the Game after Canada beat Sweden 5-4.

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