Canada defeated the Czech’s 3-2 in pre tournament play in Ottawa Monday night.
Bradley Nadeau got Canada on the board first with a goal at 3:54 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Calum Ritchie and Matthew Schaefer.
Undrafted Dominik Petr who plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL got the Czechs on the board at 15:02 of the first period to tie the game up at 1 apiece. The assists on the goal went to Tomas Galvas and Ondrej Kos who plays with Ilves in Finland’s Liiga. Galvas and Kos were both selected by OHL teams in the CHL import draft. Galvas going to Mississauga (or Brampton now) and Kos going to Kitchener.
Shots after the first period of play were 10-6 for the Canadians.
Gavin McKenna who just turned 17 three days ago made it a 2-1 game at 10:48 of the second period with the assists on the goal going to Luca Pinelli and Matthew Schaefer.
The Czechs then tied the game back up at 14:24 of the second period with a goal from Jiri Felcman who plays for the SCL Tigers in the Swiss League. The assists on the goal went to now Lethbridge Hurricane and former Red Deer Rebel Vojtech Port.. Port has been quite the suitcase in his 3 year WHL career he is already on his 4th team. Port is a 6th round draft pick of the Anaheim Duck in 2023.
Shots on goal in the second period were 9-7 for the Canadians.
Ethan Gauthier deflected a shot off of Gavin McKenna to give the Canadians the lead. Technically it looked like McKenna deflected it and his deflection bounced off a Czech D man but either way right place at the right time. The goal however was all due to the great work of D man Andrew Gibson keeping the puck in the zone. I never heard of Gibson before this tournament and was wondering why he made the team. It is very obvious after watching him. Guy is awesome.
Shots on goal in the third period were 19-9 for Canada. The Canadians outshot the Czechs in the game 39-23
Owen Sound Attack’s Carter George played the full game for the Canadians stopping 21 of the 23 shots that he faced for the win. For the Czechs University of Massachusetts goalie and Utah Hockey Club prospect Michael Hrabal made 36 saves on the 39 shots that he faced.
Canada’s next game is against Finland on Boxing Day to open the tournament.
