BRAMPTON, Ontario >> With a familiar berth in the women’s world hockey championship gold-medal game on the line, leave it to the United States’ so-called old guard to set the tone.

Captain Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel scored two goals each to lead a young and retooled American team to a 9-1 rout of the Czech Republic in the tournament semifinals on Saturday.

“It wasn’t going to going to be an easy game,” said Kessel, who is making her seventh tournament appearance. “Nobody’s rolling over. They’re in that game for a reason. So I think having that experience and knowing that it’s going to be a battle no matter who you’re playing.”

Next up is another potential showdown against cross-border rival Canada in the championship game on Sunday. Canada, which eked out a 3-2 overtime win over Sweden in the quarterfinals, faced Switzerland in the other semifinal later in the day.

Canada (5-0) finished atop the Group A standings following a 4-3 shootout win over the Americans on Monday.

With nine titles to Canada’s 12, the U.S. (5-1) has never missed a gold-medal game in tournament history, and it will be seeking to reclaim the title after losing to Canada in each of the past two finals.

U.S. coach John Wroblewski already was itching for a chance to play Canada.

“Getting over the hump of beating that team is something,” Wroblewski said.

“It’s not like there’s one thing to shut down against Canada. There’s a multitude of experience and confidence,” he added. “To dethrone someone that’s that good at what they do is going to take an outstanding performance from every single player and very few mistakes as well from the coaching staff.”

What’s been validating so far for the second-year coach is going with a lineup featuring five players making their tournament debuts. The mix of veterans — Knight and Kessel — and youngsters — Tessa Janecke and Caroline Harvey — filled the scoresheet against the Czechs.

The 33-year-old Knight also added an assist to increase her Team USA-record world championship total to 98 points. The 20-year-old Harvey scored and added four assists to raise her team-leading tournament total to 13 points. The 22-year-old Janecke scored twice to give her three goals and six points in her tournament debut.

Cayla Barnes had three assists while Abbey Murphy and Abby Roque also scored. Aerin Frankel stopped 14 shots to improve her tournament record to 4-1.

HORSE RACING

Protests delay Grand National; 118 arrested

The Grand National, one of the world’s most famous horse races, was delayed Saturday after animal rights activists scaled fences around the perimeter of Aintree racecourse and got onto the track.

A total of 118 people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and public nuisance offenses in a bid to disrupt the race, Merseyside Police said.

Many activists from an estimated group of 300 climbed the high fences around the racecourse just outside Liverpool and got onto the track a few minutes before the race was scheduled to start. Some affixed themselves to the race fences using glue and lock-on devices, according to the Animal Rising organization, before being taken away by police and security officials.

Police and security officials were seen stopping other activists by shaking the perimeter fences to prevent them being climbed. Local residents were seen helping security keep activists away from the course

The race was delayed as a result and the 39 competing horses were kept in the parade ring. It was originally scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. local time (1615 GMT) and ended up starting around 15 minutes later.

The day started with three people arrested in connection with a plan by the activists to disrupt the race. All three were arrested on “suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance,” police said. Their names were not disclosed.

TENNIS

Pegula sends U.S. to Billie Jean King finals

Jessica Pegula sent the U.S. into the Billie Jean King Cup finals Saturday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Austria’s Julia Grabher.

The victory gave the Americans a 3-0 lead and clinched the best-of-five tie in Delray Beach, Florida. The third-ranked Pegula also won her singles match Friday after No. 6 Coco Gauff, playing in her hometown, beat Grabher in the opener.

France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Germany, and Italy also secured berths in the finals, scheduled for Nov. 7-12 at a site to be determined. Those nations will join reigning champion Switzerland, 2022 runner-up Australia and one wild-card recipient at the finals, with a couple spots still be determined Saturday on the second day of the two-day qualifiers.

All of those nations have won the Cup except Kazakhstan. But it has a chance now after reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina won both her matches in a 3-1 home victory over Poland, clinching a second consecutive finals berth for Kazakhstan with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magda Linette on Saturday in Astana.

Briefly

HORSE RACING >> Favorite First Mission charged past Arabian Lion down the stretch for a half-length victory in Saturday’s $400,000 Stonestreet Lexington at Keeneland, the final Kentucky Derby qualifier.

AUTO RACING >> Kyle Kirkwood won the first pole of his IndyCar career on Saturday with a flying fast lap around the downtown streets of Long Beach — giving the series three different pole winners through the first three races of the season.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL >> There will be a new English bulldog puppy roaming the Georgia sideline in the 2023 season. The G-Day spring scrimmage on Saturday marked the transition of Georgia mascots as Uga X, named Que, retired as the winningest mascot in school history. Uga X had a 91-18 record since 2015, including back-to-back national championships the last two seasons. Uga X was 2 years old when he took over as mascot. Another English bulldog puppy, named Boom, was introduced as Uga XI in a “collaring” ceremony before the scrimmage.

WEIGHT LIFTING >> Azerbaijan withdrew from the European Weightlifting Championships on Saturday in the capital of Armenia a day after a man ran onto the stage at the competition’s opening ceremony, seized an Azerbaijan flag and set it on fire.

— From news services