2025 World Juniors: Top standouts from Canada vs. Czechia pre-tournament game

Credit: (Steven Ellis/The Nation Network)

Canada has wrapped up the pre-tournament portion of the 2025 World Junior Championship after beating Czechia 3-2 in Ottawa on Monday evening.

It was the last tune-up game for both teams before opening the tournament on Thursday.

Canada got off to an excellent start, with Cal Ritchie setting up Bradly Nadeau for a nice goal at 3:54. Canada had plenty of high-end chances from there to the point where they looked almost too confident – but it wouldn’t pay off. At 15:02, Dominik Petr scored on a shot from the slot, with the puck hitting off Carter George and in.

Canada needed someone to generate some offense and Gavin McKenna delivered. The 2026 NHL Draft prospect scored his first goal of the pre-tournament after jamming in a rebound with goaltender Michael Hrabal looking the wrong way at 30:48. But yet again, the Czechs fought back, with Jiri Felcman getting one past George for the 2-2 goal.

The third period was a sleepy one, with a true lack of high-end quality chances from both teams. That all changed with under three minutes to go when McKenna tipped a shot from the point, giving Canada another lead – and this one lasted until the final buzzer.

Here’s a look at the top players from the final preliminary round game of the World Juniors:

Canada

#27 Easton Cowan, RW (Toronto Maple Leafs): Ignore the four goals he had before today – this felt like Cowan’s best game of the preseason. He was so elusive, difficult to beat, had some great feeds to his linemates and won so many physical battles. He should have had 3-4 points in the first 40 minutes alone – he was buzzing. That’s what Canada needs after having him play a more minor role a year ago, and there’s no question he’ll be able to handle the challenge this year, given the way he’s been thriving since the start of the preseason.

#12 Jett Luchanko, C (Philadelphia Flyers): Nobody cut through the crowd and weaved through traffic with speed like Luchanko. This was my favorite game of his – the energy and the awareness to be able to make plays through open space was tremendous. Luchanko is a bottom-six player on this Canadian team, but he’s going to be a matchup nightmare with how good he is in his own zone and how competitive he is all over the ice.

#25 Matthew Schaefer, D (2025 NHL Draft): Schaefer continues to get better with every game – so much so that he’s been Canada’s best defenseman overall. He makes so many smart, high-IQ plays at both ends of the ice. He’s not afraid to rush in when he needs to and he’s defensively sound around his own net. Hard to hate a two-point night from an underaged defenseman – someone many expect to go first overall in 2025.

#9 Gavin McKenna, LW (2026 NHL Draft): McKenna finally got the monkey off his back, scoring the 2-1 goal and nearly adding another with about five minutes to go. Fortunately for him, McKenna did add another, scoring the game-winner with a great deflection. He’s so skilled and made some excellent plays in the two other pre-tournament games, but being flashy doesn’t matter when you can’t get results. Today, he got results – and could have probably had another two goals today. Now that he’s starting to figure it out at the U-20 stage, look for McKenna to become one of Canada’s top scorers over the next few weeks.

Czechia

#30 Michael Hrabal, G (Utah HC): Hrabal was Canada’s kryptonite in January in an otherwise difficult tournament for the big goaltender. For the most part, he looked excellent for the Czechs. Sure, he was looking the wrong way on the second goal, but Canada could have easily taken a 3-0 lead early if it hadn’t been for Hrabal being as locked in as he was. He was tracking shots well and looked calm and poised in the crease.

#12 Eduard Sale, LW (Seattle Kraken): Sale didn’t score, but I thought his effort was good. He was more involved in his own zone than he was for most of the tournament last year and he had a few good looks that didn’t pay off, unfortunately. Overall, though, Sale was solid – and he’ll need to be one of the team’s top stars if the Czechs are going to go far.

#24 Adam Novotny, LW (2026 NHL Draft): There were plenty of times when Novotny impressed me tonight. He seemed to have boundless energy and wasn’t afraid to battle anyone along the boards. He’s not eligible until the 2026 draft, but he’s definitely going to go high because he has the skill and work ethic teams crave.