Czechia beats Sweden to win bronze at 2025 World Juniors
OTTAWA – It took a shootout to decide the winner, but Czechia held on in the skills competition to beat Sweden 3-2 and take home bronze at the 2025 World Junior Championship.
The bronze is Czechia’s third since the split from Czechoslovakia and their second in two years. The Czechs also took home silver in 2023 and finished fourth in 2022, so the team’s recent run is a sign that the program is thriving right now.
Sweden, meanwhile, is 1-2 in the bronze game over the past four years. The team took third in Edmonton in 2022 before falling to the United States in Halifax back in 2023. The Swedes bounced back in 2024, taking home silver after once again losing to the Americans.
USA and Finland will play in the gold medal game shortly after 7:30 PM ET.
The Czechs struggled in the first 10 minutes, registering just one shot. Fortunately for them, they made it count as Jakub Stancl took Adam Jecho’s feed and fired it past Marcus Gidlof for the 1-0 goal.
The Swedes were much more active on the attack, and at 12:31, David Edstrom got Sweden on the board after Czech goaltender Michael Hrabal lost track of the puck just outside the Czech crease. The game remained tied until the 29th minute. Czechia’s Eduard Sale would be on the receiving end of a feed from Miroslav Holinka, where he’d go on to deke out Gidlof for the 2-1 goal.
The Swedes needed a goal in the dying minutes of the second to get them back on track, and Edstrom delivered. Felix Unger Sorum did a good job of winning a battle through the slot and passed it out to Edstrom, who re-directed the shot below Hrabal’s pad and in to make it 2-2.
Just like Sweden’s game on Saturday, this one needed extra time. Both teams traded opportunities, with Hrabal and Gidlof making some timely saves. So much so, though, that we needed a shootout to decide the winner. It took 14 rounds – and many star players on both teams going up multiple times – until we finally decided who took home bronze, but it would be Sale who would finish things off to win the game for Czechia.
Here’s a look at the top standouts from both teams:
Czechia
#21 Jakub Stancl, RW (St. Louis Blues): Stancl took the tournament-scoring lead with his seventh goal of the tourney. Sure, nearly half his goals came in one tournament, but his ability to be dangerous in the playoffs are a big reason why the Czechs ended up playing for a medal. He’s a solid passer, but when he sees an opportunity to rush the puck in and create something, he’ll do it.
#30 Michael Hrabal, G (Utah HC): Hrabal will probably want the 1-1 goal back, but he was outstanding in the third period as the Swedes started to throw everything at him. He could have easily collapsed under the pressure – we’ve seen that before – but he was as dialed in as we’ve seen from him at this tournament. I thought he especially did a good job of directing shots to the boards.
#12 Eduard Sale, LW (Seattle Kraken): With a goal in regulation and the shootout winner, Sale came up clutch. His hands were on display today, and he also showed his defensive chops during regulation too. Sale was counted on at this tournament to be one of Czechia’s most important players and he delivered today.
Sweden
#15 David Edstrom, C (Nashville Predators): It’s hard to argue against the guy who scored twice. The twice-traded NHL prospect has been electric during the medal round, and his two goals today helped spark a Swedish forward crop that needed to generate more high-danger opportunities. His defensive game was great, as usual.
#17 Felix Nilsson, C, (Nashville Predators): I loved Nilsson’s game away from the puck. He was making things happen in his own zone, getting in the way of scoring lanes and pushing players around through the middle of the ice. Overall, a strong end to an excellent tourney from the 19-year-old.