Czechia wins bronze at 2024 World Junior Championship after collapse by Finland

It was another bronze medal game for the ages, as Czechia erased a 5-2 deficit to beat Finland 8-5 to take third place at the 2024 World Junior Championship in Sweden.

It’s Czechia’s second medal in a row after winning silver in 2023, their first medal in 18 years. This is also the first time the Czechs have won medals in consecutive years since taking gold in 2000 and 2001.

The Finns looked stout early, taking a 2-0 lead before the halfway point of the first period. At 6:13, Rasmus Kumpulainen scored his second goal in two days with a wrist shot that beat Michael Hrabal’s low glove side. A minute later, Jani Nyman doubled the advantage after using a screen in front, knocking Hrabal out of the game after allowing two goals on three shots.

Czechia desperately needed a goal before the end of the frame to try and swing momentum, and they got it. Just eight seconds into a power play, Buffalo Sabres prospect Jiri Kulich fired a wrister past Niklas Kokko to make it a 2-1 game.

The second period got wild, with three goals in 34 seconds. First, Czechia tied it up when Jakub Stancl beat Kokko on the man advantage at 28:37, keeping the momentum alive. But it all fell apart less than 20 seconds later when Konsta Helenius’ first goal of the tournament restored Finland’s lead, only for Lenni Hameenaho to score at 29:11 to give Finland’s two-goal lead back. Hameenaho finished off the frame with his second of the game, going all in on an individual effort to make it 5-2 on the power play.

A strange moment occurred late in the third when Matyas Sapovaliv and Kasper Halttunen collided after both players were focused on the puck down the ice. Sapovaliv was penalized for head contact, but the Czechs scored shorthandedly after Ondrej Becher was sent all alone.

But everything fell apart for the Finns late. Just 12 seconds into a power play at 44:41, Kulich scored his second of the game on a very similar shot as his first, making it 5-4.

From there, the Finns had a complete collapse. Becher scored his second of the game at 58:04 with the net empty to tie it up, only to have Tomas Hamara, Dominik Rymon and a third goal from Becher to make it 8-5 – giving them four goals in less than a minute.