Canada exits world junior hockey championship after 3-2 loss to Czechs
Jakub Stancl scored his second goal of the game with 11.7 seconds left in third period as Czechia survived a blown 2-0 lead to defeat Canada 3-2 and advance to the semifinals at the world junior hockey championship on Tuesday.
Tomas Cibulka had the other goal for Czechia. Jakub Vondras got the win.
Matthew Wood and Jake Furlong replied for Canada. Mathis Rousseau took the loss in his fifth straight start at the under-20 tournament.
The North Americans carried the play for most of the final 40 minutes before Stancl fired a shot on goal in the dying seconds of regulation that deflected off the stick of Canadian defenceman Oliver Bonk – the son of former NHLer Radek Bonk – and beat a stunned Rousseau.
Tuesday’s quarterfinal was a rematch of last year’s gold-medal matchup in Halifax, which Canada took 3-2 in overtime. Five members of that Czech team dressed Tuesday, while forward Owen Beck was Canada’s lone returnee.
Canadian winger Matthew Savoie returned to the lineup Tuesday from a lower-body injury after sitting out Sunday’s 6-3 win over Germany.
Conor Geekie was also back for Canada. The big forward avoided a suspension from the International Ice Hockey Federation’s disciplinary panel following his game misconduct for an illegal check to the head just 11 seconds into Sunday.
Down 2-0 to Czechia through 20 minutes, Rousseau stopped Eduard Sale on a 2-on-1 early in the second.
Wood then took a pass from Easton Cowan a few minutes later to score his second and cut Czechia’s lead in half at 3:43 and give the travelling Canadian fans hope.
The team in red continued to press as the period wore on, and Furlong finally got the equalizer with 3:20 left when his point shot beat the six-foot-seven Vondras with Geekie in front.
Can
Read more on globalnews.ca
