A not so stunning turn of events saw Canada eliminated from the World Junior Hockey Championship in a quarterfinal loss to Czechia, echoing their defeat at the same stage last year. Despite a late surge and an equalizer in the third period, a late penalty against Canada allowed Czechia to score the winning goal with just seconds remaining. This loss marks the first time since the early 1980s that Canada has failed to medal in consecutive World Juniors, highlighting both their offensive struggles throughout the tournament, only scoring ten goals in the first four games, and their recurring penalty problems, which proved costly against both the United States and Czechia. With this defeat, Czechia advances to the semifinals against the U.S., while Canada faces another disappointing finish. – In all reality they lost to a better team.
2024 Washington Capitals 6th rounder Petr Sikora opened up the scoring for the Czechs just 43 seconds into the game with the assists going to Utah draft pick Vojtech Hradec and the Kelowna Rockets Jakub Stanci.–It took just 43 seconds for Czechia to get on the board against Canada, and once the seed of doubt was sewed, the Canadians looked to be in disarray. They couldn’t get organized for more than a shift at a time.
A questionable kneeing penalty against Canada’s Cole Beaudoin resulted in a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It seemed a harsh call, but remarkably, Canada scored shorthanded during the penalty kill. It would be their only goal of the first half.
Calgary Hitmen Tanner Howe scored for Canada shorthanded to tie up the game at 10:17 of the first period with the assist on the goal going to captain Brayden Yager.
Jakub Stanci makes it 2-1 Czechia while on the Power Play at 12:45 of the first period with the assists going to Jiri Felcman and Adam Jiricek.
Coachella Valley Firebirds Eduard Sale makes it a 3-1 game for the Czechs with just 3 seconds left in the first period. The assists on the goal went to Matej Mastalrisky and Tomas Galvas
Shots in the first period of play were 14-9 for the Czechs
Porter Martone makes the game within one when he scores at 17:40 on the Power Play with the assists on the goal going to Tanner Moldendyk and Brayden Yager.–Going into the second intermission, it looked like things might be slipping away, but then Martone tipped one home on the power play – a real beauty, it was – and suddenly Canada was right back in it, down by only one.
Shots in the second period were 9-6 for Canada
Bradley Nadeau tied the game up for the Canadians at 15:42 of the third period with the assists on the goal going to Luca Pinelli and Sam Dickinson.– They carried that momentum into the third, too. Nadeau was a force in that last period, really took over. The tying goal? All him. He started the whole thing, breaking out of their own zone, then just kept going, right to the net, and boom – 3-3 with just over four minutes left.
I feel for Gibson on this penalty with 2 minutes left he is a clean player and didn’t mean to do that but that is way more of a knee than the Beaudoin in the first. If they are going to keep calling pussy rules they kind of have to call that.’–While Canadian fans and players were ecstatic, Andrew Gibson was called for kneeing with just over two minutes to go. With 39 seconds to go, Adam Jecho scored a one-timer to end the Canadians’ hope of getting to the medal rounds. Once again, Canada’s lack of discipline sends the team home early and without a medal.
Edmonton Oil Kings Adam Jecho scored for the Czechs with 39 seconds left in the game on the Power Play to give the Czech’s the lead and advance them to the Semi Finals.
Shots on goal in the third period were 14-6 for Canada with Canada outshooting the Czechs 32-26 in the game.
For the Czechs Michael Hrabel made 29 saves on the 32 shots that he faced for the win for the Czech’s. For the Canadians Carter George made 22 saves on the 26 shots that he faced.
Adam Jecho was player of the game for the Czechs
Canada’s three best players who got a watch were Tanner Molendyk, Brayden Yager, and Carter George. I am willing to bet that all three of them do not give a crap about their watches and will probably be selling them on ebay for spending cash.