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Canada's nightmare World Juniors comes to a devastating end

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Jan 3 2025, 3:16 am
Canada's nightmare World Juniors comes to a devastating end
AndrƩ Ringuette/IIHF

It was heartbreak for Canada at the World Juniors in Ottawa, as they were upset in the quarter-final, 4-3 to Czechia.

The hero for the Czechs was Adam Jecho, who scored the game-winning goal with just 40 seconds left. It was scored on the power play, following a kneeing penalty to Team Canada defenceman Andrew Gibson.

The late goal spoiled what was a tremendous comeback effort by the Canadians, who trailed 3-1 after the first period. Bradly Nadeau tied the game up for Team Canada with under five minutes to play in the third period, which was dominated by the home team.

It seemed Canada couldn’t do anything right in the first period, giving up the first goal of the game to Petr Sikora 43 seconds in. Sikora appeared to help sell a five-minute major penalty to Cole Beaudoin and the Czech forward was booed mercilessly by the fans in Ottawa every time he touched the puck for the rest of the game because of it.

Tanner Howe scored shorthanded on a great feed by Brayden Yager to tie the game momentarily, only to have Sam Dickinson inadvertently glove the puck into his own net two and a half minutes later. Making matters worse, a Dickinson turnover late in the first period led to a Czech insurance goal, scored by Eduard Sale with three seconds left.

The second period was relatively uneventful, save for Porter Martone’s deft deflection on the power play which got Canada to within one goal.

This is the second year in a row that Canada won’t earn a medal at the World Juniors, with their tournament ending in the quarter-final each year. It’s the first time since 1981 that Canada has not at least played for a medal in back-to-back years.

Canada finished a disappointing third place in their group, following losses to Latvia and USA in the round robin, which ensured a difficult quarter-final matchup against Czechia. Their lone wins came against Finland and Germany.

Sweden will play Finland in one semi-final on Saturday, while USA takes on Czechia in the other. The gold medal game is set for Sunday.

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