Czechia stuns Canada with world junior victory

Czechia took advantage of many Canadian mistakes to pull off a solid 5-2 upset on Monday to end Day 1 play in Halifax.

The Czechs got an early goal that was waved off due to goaltender interference, but they couldn’t capitalize on the momentum. At 10:33, Shane Wright tipped Olen Zellweger’s point shot past Tomas Suchanek for the 1-0 goal, stealing the momentum away. Brandt Clarke scored a few minutes later, but that was also called off due to Joshua Roy being offside.

From there, the Czechs took over. At 17:48, Stanislav Svozil found David Spacek crashing the and made it 1-1, with defenseman David Moravec scoring less than a minute later to give the Czechs the advantage.

The highlight of the first, however, was the two failed lacrosse goal attempts by Canada. First, Adam Fantilli went for it, only Spacek to knock the puck off his stick and away from danger. Then, Bedard’s attempt was stopped after Suchanek covered the top left corner perfectly and kept it out.

A goal for Svozil just 44 seconds into the second put Czechia up by two, but not for long. Connor Bedard would get his first of the tournament when his release beat Suchanek over the glove to make it 3-2, keeping the game close.

A game misconduct for head contact to Zach Dean early in the second sent the Canadians spiraling. At 28:14, David Jiricek found Jaroslav Chmelar standing in front and he made no mistake in knocking it out of the air and past Benjamin Gaudreau. Just 33 seconds later, Matous Mensik beat Gaudreau with a tough-angle shot, giving Czechia the 5-2 lead.

Canada peppered goaltender with chances, but the star of the 2022 tournament stood his ground. He made 36 stops total to outduel the goaltending duo of Gaudreau and Milic, with Milic stopping every shot sent his way.