Jason La Rose
GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. CZECHIA (JAN. 4)
Canada’s National Junior Team is back in the semifinals at the IIHF World Junior Championship for the first time in three years, taking on Czechia in a Boxing Day rematch, this time with a spot in the gold medal game on the line.
Last Game
Canada booked its place in the final four with a comfortable 7-1 win over Slovakia in the last quarterfinal Friday. The Canadians took charge early, striking for five goals in the span of 5:49 in the back half of the first period. In all, seven players scored and 14 recorded at least a point, while Michael Misa, Porter Martone, Sam O’Reilly and Cole Beaudoin finished with a goal and an assist apiece.
Czechia advanced to the semifinals for the fifth year in a row thanks to a 6-2 quarterfinal win over Switzerland. Petr Sikora and Jiri Klima recorded a goal and two assists each to help the Czechs erase a pair of one-goal deficits. Michal Orsulak needed to make just 18 saves as Czechia outshot the Swiss 33-11 over the final 40 minutes, and 43-20 overall.
Last Meeting
The Canadians and Czechs raised the curtain on preliminary-round play nine days ago, with Canada earning a wild 7-5 victory on Boxing Day. Zayne Parekh scored a pair of goals, Ethan MacKenzie and Michael Hage chipped in with a goal and two helpers each and the Canadians got the three points in a game they led 1-0, 2-1, 4-3 and 5-4, and trailed 3-2.
What to Watch
The Canadians have the highest-scoring offence in the tournament with 32 goals in five games (five more than second-best Sweden) and the contributions have come from everywhere. Nineteen of the 22 skaters have recorded at least one point and 13 have scored goals. A look at the tournament scoring race shows six Canadians in the top 12, with Parekh (4-6—10) positioning himself to be the second defenceman in as many years to lead the tournament in scoring—after that hadn’t happened in the first 48 editions of the World Juniors. And how about clutch scoring? Five games have produced five different game-winning goal scorers—MacKenzie, Hage, Braeden Cootes, Beaudoin and Tij Iginla. To finish, let’s make a quick stop between the pipes; Jack Ivankovic has allowed just one goal in both of his starts in Minnesota. Going back to the medal round at U18 Men’s Worlds last spring, when Ivankovic backstopped Canada to gold and earned Best Goaltender honours, the Mississauga product has fashioned a 5-0 record with a 0.79 goals-against average, .968 save percentage and two shutouts.
Czechia is led by the three-headed monster of Vojtech Cihar (2-7—9), Tomas Galvas (3-5—8) and Sikora (2-6—8), who sit third, eighth and ninth in tournament scoring, respectively. They were front and centre in the quarterfinal win over the Swiss, combining for two goals and six points. Cihar, a second-round pick of Los Angeles (59th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft, will be joining 15 of his Czech teammates in the Canadian Hockey League after the tournament, suiting up for the Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets. And you can’t ignore Adam Jiricek; the Brantford Bulldogs (OHL) blue-liner and St. Louis Blues first-rounder (16th overall in 2024) has scored in each of his last four games, including a highlight-reel overtime winner against Finland.
Be There Next Year!
The holiday hockey tradition returns to Canadian ice a year from now when Edmonton and Red Deer host the 2027 IIHF World Junior Championship. Fans interested in ticket packages can register until Jan. 6 for the Priority Ticket Draw at HockeyCanada.ca/PriorityDraw.
A Look Back
The head-to-head history overwhelmingly favours the Canadians. Since the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Canada has won 22 of the 28 meetings, with another two ending in ties.
This will be the fifth time the Canadians and Czechs have clashed in a semifinal, and all four of the previous final-four faceoffs have ended in favour of Canada—in 2004 (7-1), 2005 (3-1), 2018 (7-2) and 2022 (5-2).
All-time record: Canada leads 22-3-2 (1-1 in OT/SO) Canada goals: 130 Czechia goals: 57