Czechia eliminates defending champs Canada in QFs
Czechia has gotten its revenge on Canada.
After losing to Canada in the gold-medal game in 2023, Czechia eliminated the two-time defending champions with a 3-2 victory in the quarterfinal of the world juniors Tuesday. It's the first time ever Czechia has defeated Canada in the knockout stage of the tournament.
Jakub Stancl scored the winner for Czechia with just 11 seconds left in regulation for his second goal of the game. He swung a puck toward the goal that bounced off Canadian defenseman Oliver Bonk and into the net.
Czechia jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first period. Stancl beat Mathis Rousseau to open the scoring with a short-side wrister off the rush at the 7:51 mark. Tomas Cibulka then doubled the lead with a point shot through the wickets with less than two minutes left in the opening frame.
Canada made a strong push and was the better team in the final 40 minutes. Matthew Wood - the team's 13th forward - gave Canada life with a top-corner snipe on a breakaway 3:43 into the middle frame. Defenseman Jake Furlong knotted the game at 2-2 with a high point shot at the 16:40 mark.
"Those last two periods were some of the best periods we played in the tournament, and that's kind of the disappointing thing," Canadian head coach Alan Letang said postgame, per TSN's Mark Masters. "I don't think we got to our game quick enough, often enough."
Canada continued to press in the third period, outshooting Czechia 12-6 in the final frame. However, the team couldn't get one past netminder Michael Hrabal - a second-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2023. Just when it appeared the game was heading to OT, Stancl scored the winner.
"Our heads are kind of spinning right now," Canadian forward Owen Beck said. "Not really sure what happened. Yeah, it's just a horrible way to end things off here."
Canada outshot Czechia 30-22 overall in the contest.
Captain Fraser Minten took the loss to heart.
"It feels like the world's ending a bit," Minten said. "Like, it's such an unbelievable opportunity for all of us in our careers, and you never really know if you're going to get another look with representing your country or playing on such a global stage."
Macklin Celebrini, Denton Mateychuk, and Maveric Lamoureux were named Canada's top players in the tournament.
It'll be the first time since 2019 that Canada won't medal.
Czechia, meanwhile, is looking to medal in consecutive years for the first time since winning back-to-back golds in 2000 and 2001.