Connor Bedard breaks records, scores game-winner as Canada beats Slovakia in world junior thriller

Connor Bedard scored a goal to remember for Canada, helping them advance to the semifinal of the World Junior Championship following a wild 4-3 overtime game against Slovakia.

Canada will meet with the United States at 6:30 PM ET in the semifinal on Wednesday.

The story of the game was the goaltending. Slovakia’s Adam Gajan, who started the tournament as the third goalie, made 53 saves in the loss, while Thomas Milic stopped 24 sent his way. Both goalies faced a high variety of high-quality chances, which kept the game close.

The Slovaks had a 5-0 shot advantage to start the first period, but Canada still managed to score first. At 6:07, Connor Bedard scored on a breakaway from a Logan Stankoven feed, giving Canada the 1-0 advantage. The goal made Bedard Canada’s all-time goals (15) and points (32) leader with two more games to go.

Neither team scored again in the first, but the second period was much more interesting. At 25:02, Dylan Guenther scored on the power play after taking Brennan Othmann’s feed on the power play, making no mistake while all alone.

The Slovaks scored on the power play a minute later. Simon Nemec, one of the top defensive prospects, fired a shot at net, only to have Libor Nemec deflect the puck off his leg for the 2-1 goal.

The two teams traded goals to close out the period. First, Canada’s Zack Ostapchuk scored on a simple wrister at 29:00. Then, at 33:18, Robert Baco took advantage of two Canadians laying down on the ice and beat Thomas Milic blocker side, making it a 3-2 game before the end of the middle stanza.

The action was hectic in the third period, with both teams getting some fantastic opportunities. It all eventually came to a head when Libor Nemec scored his second of the game, waiting until Filip Mesar drew two Canadian defenders away for the 3-3 goal.

After multiple hit crossbars and posts in the dying minutes, the game required overtime to decide the victor. It was intense, with both goaltenders playing their hearts out in what will be considered an instant classic. But if any Canadian was going to score, it was going to be Bedard, and that’s exactly what he did. After deking past two defenders, Bedard made one final move to the backhand to lift it over Gajan to win the game.

Three Stars

1. Adam Gajan, G (Slovakia, 2023): Gajan’s incredible tournament continues, keeping his outmatched Slovak team in it all night long with 53 saves.
2. Connor Bedard, F (Canada, 2023): Two goals and an assist in a historic night for the 2023 draft phenom.
3. Zack Ostapchuk, F (Canada, Ottawa): He scored Canada’s third goal and was generally a nuisance out there. A hard-fought game by a guy with a tremendous work ethic.