2025 World Juniors: Top standouts as Czechia eliminates Canada
OTTAWA – For the second straight year, Czechia has eliminated Canada in the quarterfinal to move on in the World Junior Championship thanks to a 4-3 victory.
Czechia will play for a medal for a fourth consecutive year, looking to take a step above their third place finish in 2024. Canada will miss out on the quarterfinal for the second consecutive year after previously winning the tourney in 2022 and 2023.
Czechia will face off against the United States on Saturday with a chance to play for gold.
It took just 43 seconds for Petr Sikora to convert on a giveaway in the Canadian zone to make it 1-0. Then, at 9:03, Cole Beaudoin was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing, taking him out of the game and giving the Czechs an extended advantage.
Canada could have easily fallen apart there, but a Tanner Howe shorthanded goal just over a minute into the penalty kill made it a 1-1 game. Czechia would restore their advantage two minutes later when Sam Dickinson tried to catch the puck and instead directed it into the net, with Jakub Stancl taking credit for the goal.
Then, with 2.1 seconds left in the frame, Eduard Sale would make it a 3-1 game, taking any potential late-period momentum away from the Canadians.
Canada struggled to generate anything noteworthy until the latter part of the second. Tanner Molendyk would take a shot on the power play and Porter Martone would tip the shot in to make it 3-2.
With time ticking down, Canada scored a big one. With the team increasing the pressure on goaltender Michael Hrabal, Bradly Nadeau managed to tip in the loose puck between the goaltender’s legs and in to make it 3-3. The Czechs would take advantage of a late game penalty, though, with Adam Jecho scoring on the one-timer with 39 seconds left to win the game.
Canada
#11 Brayden Yager, C (Winnipeg Jets): That’s two games in a row where Yager clearly outworked everyone on the ice. The returning forward hustled so hard to create the 1-1 goal, getting stopped on a breakaway before sending the puck back in front to Tanner Howe. His ability to hustle no matter how late in a shift it was into it was impressive – and he did it all throughout the round-robin.
#6 Tanner Molendyk, D (Nashville Predators): It was a rough game for the Canadians defensively but Molendyk looked strong. He had the shot that led to the 3-2 goal and was solid at keeping pucks in the offensive zone consistently. I had some issues with his defensive game at points but he was the only defender that seemed committed to making an impact at both ends of the ice as often as possible.
#9 Gavin McKenna, LW (2026 NHL Draft): McKenna moved up to the top line and instantly became the best player on Canada. His ability to get the puck into scoring roles was tremendous, even though he couldn’t beat goaltender Michael Hrabal. Just imagine if Dave Cameron tried him a little higher in the tournament earlier on.
Czechia
#5 Adam Jiricek, D (St. Louis Blues): I really liked Jiricek’s game today – he didn’t give Canada much space to work with in the middle. On a few occasions, we saw him push to the outside to give a Canadian player a false sense of security down the middle before stealing the open ice.
#12 Eduard Sale, LW (Seattle Kraken): Sale is really making a case to earn a tournament all-star spot, isn’t he? He scored yet again, this time taking a pass late in the first period and scoring uncontested to make it 3-1. His ability to always be involved on the Czech attack has made him so effective – just many hoped he would be.
#6 Jakub Dvorak, D (Los Angeles Kings): Dvorak was defensively sound while patrolling his own zone. Not many high-danger opportunities made it past him – and he was especially good at getting the puck out of his zone. I liked what I saw.