World juniors finals - The Day D

Jakub Bernard

On Friday at 0:30 AM, there was one of the biggest matches in Czech Hockey's latest history. It was the day when our national team under 20 played the final match of the world junior championship against Canada. 

It was only the third time that the Czech national team was in the finals. The opponent was the strongest available in this tournament, Canada. A team full of prospects drafted in the first round of the latest NHL drafts and with the future best hockey player in the world Connor Bedard. 

The Czechs started the game very offensively, but Canada wasn't scared, and they got the initiative soon. They scored in the 13th minute on the powerplay from the stick of Dylan Guenther. They were the better team also in the second period, and their captain, Shane Wright, scored a beautiful second goal. 

At the start of the 3rd period, no one expected a dramatic ending. Canada was the better team all match, but from the 5th minute of the period, the Czechs started playing much better. They got lots and lots of scoring chances but couldn't find the back of the net. Suddenly in the 53rd minute, our best scorer, Jiri Kulich, scored. And a minute later, it was a draw. Jakob Kos scored, and the Czechs were buzzing. 

In the game's final minute, the Czechs had one of the biggest chances in the match. They were really centimeters from the win. So the winner had to be decided in overtime. In overtime, the Canadians were more lucky. They scored 5 minutes into the overtime, and the Czech dream about a gold medal was over. But the tournament was enjoyable, and everybody was proud of our Czech boys and what they had done in the tournament.