HALIFAX –
Canada got the revenge it desperately craved – and is gold again at the world junior hockey championship.
Dylan Guenther scored his second goal of the night at 6:22 of overtime as the tournament hosts survived a 2-0 third-period lead to beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in the World Junior Hockey Championship final in Thursday.
The Arizona Coyotes forward took a pass from Joshua Roy in a 2-on-1 to give his country their 20th U20 title.
Shane Wright, on his 19th birthday, had the other goal for Canada. Tomas Milic made 24 saves.
Canada is the first team to repeat since the country won five straight gold medals between 2005 and 2009 after Connor Bedard and seven other returnees also headlined the pandemic-postponed summer performance in Edmonton.
Bedard was named tournament MVP.
Jiri Kulic and Jakub Kos answered for the Czech Republic. Tomas Suhanek stopped 35 shots.
The Czechs defeated non-aligned Canada for the first time in 3,285 days when they claimed a then stunning 5-2 victory on December 26 and appeared in the final for the first time since their only gold medal triumphs in 2000 and 2001.
The Czech Republic – the country known as the Czech Republic – finished fourth in the summer and won its first medal since 2005. The United States earned a wild 8-7 overtime win against Sweden to take bronze.
Bedard, the Canadian phenom who rewrote page after page of both the tournament and the national record books in Halifax, was removed from the record on Thursday.
It didn’t matter.
The Czechs came close at a stunned Scotiabank Center midway through the first period when Gabriel Sturk hit the crossbar.
Not content with the Czech Republic’s wild celebrations after their Boxing Day win, the Canadians did well on their first power play.
Gunther, one of three NHL players on loan to the national team for the tournament along with Wright and Brand Clark, blasted the crossbar for his sixth of the tournament at 12:41 before the familiar sounds of “Heave Away” from The Fables echo around the rink is bathed in red and white.
Milic, who made 43 saves in a 6-2 semifinal win over the Americans, was again excellent as the period continued with stops by Kulic and Martin Risavi.
Caedan Bankier almost made it 2-0 for Canada early in the second leg after breaking through with a leg, but the goal was ruled out for goalkeeper interference after he collided with Suchanek.
The Czech netminder then made big stops against Zak Ostapchuk and Logan Stankoven in separate one-on-ones before Wright struck.
The No. 4 overall pick in the NHL draft last summer, who had an up-and-down tournament until Thursday, grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and fought off a defender before going through two more and sending a backhand shot up the shortside for his fourth in 4:35.
Wright watched every world junior final on his birthday growing up, and the crowd responded after his goal by singing “Happy Birthday” to the Canadian captain.
Brennan Ottman, who turned 20 on Thursday, nearly made it 3-0, but Suchanek made massive shots with the man advantage.
Wright nearly scored on a 2-on-1 midway through the third chance that would have sealed it, but the Czechs finally got on the board with 7:30 seconds left in regulation when Kulic ricocheted off the post.
Jakub Kos then equalized to stun the Canadiens and the partisan crowd just 54 seconds later after Clark failed to clear the puck twice out of his own zone to force the extra period.
After that, Gunther etched his name into the world’s teenage lore.
Projected to go No. 1 in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Bedard set a slew of records in the Maritimes.
A flashy 17-year-old from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Bedard holds the national record with 23 all-time points and 17 all-time World Junior goals.
Bedard also set a new mark for most points by a Canadian in a single tournament with 23, holds the national record with 14 assists in a single event and registered the most points by a player age 18 or younger.
Bedard’s 19 all-time assists are one shy of the national mark held by Ryan Ellis, while he was one point shy of tying Markus Naslund and Raimo Helminen for the second-most by any player tournament side.
He is also the first player in history to score four goals twice – doing it against Austria this summer and again in Halifax.
Canada defeated Slovakia 4-3 in extra time in the quarterfinals on Bedard’s stunning solo effort before coming back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the United States in the semifinals.
The Czechs defeated Switzerland in the quarters and scored late in regulation to secure a 2-1 OT win against Sweden before falling to the pre-tournament favorites in the final.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on January 5, 2023.
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