HALIFAX –
Jaroslav Chemeler and Matous Mensik scored from 33 seconds apart during a five-minute power play as the Czech Republic stunned Canada 5-2 in the first game for both countries at the junior men’s world hockey championship on Monday.
Stanislav Svozil and David Spacek, with a goal and an assist each, and David Moravec provided the rest of the offense for the underdog Czech Republic, the country commonly known as the Czech Republic.
Tomas Suchanek was stellar making 36 saves behind a structured and determined group.
Shane Wright, with a goal and an assist, and Connor Bedard responded for Canada. Benjamin Gaudreau allowed five goals on 17 shots before being replaced by Thomas Milic in the second half. Milic finished with 10 saves for the suddenly shaky tournament favorites who lost to the Czechs for the first time in 3,285 days.
Sweden defeated Austria 11-0 in the other Group A match.
Seeking its 20th gold medal after winning on home soil in Edmonton last summer, Canada suffered only its second loss in 24 meetings with the Czechs in the men’s under-20 exhibition since 1994, with the only other loss coming in a shootout at the preliminary round 2013.
Down 3-2 in the second period on Monday, Canada collapsed after forward Zach Dean was issued a match penalty for an illegal blow to the head.
With Dean showering early, Chemeler hit a loose puck off Gaudreau’s gate at 8:14 before Mensik fired from a sharp angle moments later to end a netminder’s forgettable night.
Canada pressed as the period wore on, but Suchanek was there to deny Brennan Othmann on a frenzied power play before Wright hit the post late in the period.
The Canadiens pulled off an early power play in the third but couldn’t connect, and the cool and confident Czechs kept their cool from there to secure an improbable win.
First “normal” world juniors since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2021 was played in a bubble before the 2022 event was postponed by eight months) fans inside a Scotiabank Center were ready since the puck was released .
The tournament hosts had several early chances, including Adam Fantilli’s attempt on “The Michigan” that was thwarted by Spacek, before going ahead with a power play.
After the Czechs were whistled for goalkeeper interference in a sequence in which the puck ended up in Gaudreau’s net, Wright deflected Olen Zellweger’s shot for the Canadian captain’s first World Youth goal.
Bedard then had Canada’s second effort to complete “The Michigan”, where a player lifts the puck with his stick behind the net and tries to hit it high, before Brandt Clarke’s 2-0 goal was disallowed by a review from offside.
That seemed to energize the Czech Republic.
Spacek scored on a backdoor play in which he caught Fantilli sleeping defensively before Moravec’s shot 35 seconds later gave the Czechs an improbable 2-1 lead for 20 minutes.
Svozil put the Czechs ahead by two 44 seconds after the intermission when he was given too much space coming off the point, but Bedard responded 45 seconds after that with a turnover to ignite the red-clad Maritime crowd welcoming the juniors. of the world for the first time. time in 20 years.
But Dean’s jab at defender Ales Cech resulted in the five-minute penalty that would extend the Czech underdog’s lead to three and leave Canada with plenty of questions.
WALK AWAY
Canada’s goal song for the world’s first juniors to be played on the East Coast in 20 years is “Heave Away” by The Fables, a Celtic rock band from St. John’s, NL.
TRAVEL PROBLEMS
Czech defender David Jiricek’s team did not arrive in Halifax until Monday afternoon thanks to a winter storm that hit central and eastern Canada last week.
The No. 6 pick in the 2022 NHL draft, owned by the Columbus Blue Jackets and a member of the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, was supposed to join his teammates Friday in Halifax but didn’t leave Toronto until 48 hours later. .
Jiricek was on the ice for his team’s morning skate, wearing borrowed gear, and it was a game-time decision until his bag was brought from the airport to the arena.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Canada: Take on Germany on Wednesday.
Czechia: They face Austria on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 26, 2022.