Wow! The U20 national team knocked Canada out of the World Junior Championship thanks to a lucky goal 11 seconds before the end

It didn’t start well. In their first game at the World Junior Championship, the U20 national under-20 hockey team was defeated by Slovakia. But the youngsters from the Czech Republic managed to pull themselves together and reached the quarter-finals. There, however, they had to face Canada. How did they do?

After the first game at the World Junior Championships, there was a lot of panic. “Is our team that bad or Slovakia that good?” was a common question. After all, our neighbours taught our youngsters a lesson and deservedly won 6:2.

So the Czech Republic had their motivation taken care of right away. In the next match, Patrik Augusta’s charges made up for it. They destroyed Norway’s 20 team 8:1. Eduard Šalé and Jiří Kulich scored a hat-trick. An excellent response to a failed debut.

Then came the battle with the favored United States of America. In this game, both teams fought for the lead until it went into overtime and then to a shootout, where the American players were more successful.

At the end of the group stage, the Czech Republic played against the Swiss, where they lost a two-goal lead, but it did not break the players and they won the game 4:2. However, it meant unpleasant news. Advancing to the quarterfinals counts, but Canada as an opponent? Not what anyone would have wanted.

A sensation! The under-20 national team has knocked out Canada!

When the Czech Republic vs. Canada match started, the Canadians were seen as huge favourites. However, in the first period they did not prove that they were rightfully so. The game was evenly matched, and our 20s took the lead shortly before the start of the eighth minute when Jakub Štancl scored.

After eleven minutes a penalty shot was ordered in favour of our team, but Dominik Rymon missed it. The two-goal lead was then taken by defender Tomáš Cibulka at 18:01.

But the second act was completely different. Canada started as a different team. It was better in all aspects, more active, better skating. And at the time of 3:43 the favorites managed to reduce when Matthew Wood scored.

The young men from the Czech Republic fought hard, but the better quality was simply on the opponent’s side. Despite their tenacity, the Maple Leafs managed to draw level at 2:2 when Jake Furlong scored his first goal of the tournament at 16:40.

The third period followed and a lot of pressure from Canada was expected. And we got it. The team from overseas was better and had a power play in the first half of the period, but they didn’t use it. However, it was uncomfortably frequent that the Czech defensive zone was played in the Czech zone even outside the power play.

However, a few seconds before the end, a big sensation happened. Jakub Štancl took a shot 12 seconds before the final buzzer and thanks to a run by Oliver Bonk, it went behind the Canadian goalie.

The Czech Republic thus advanced to the semifinals after a 3:2 win and provided the biggest shock of the championship so far.

Source: IIHF, CT Sport