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Ethan MacKenzie scored the game-winning goal in the third period as Canada opened the world junior hockey championship with a nervy 7-5 victory over the Czech Republic on Friday.
Zayne Parekh added two goals for Canada. Michael Hage and MacKenzie, with a goal and two assists each, Brady Martin, with a goal and an assist, and Porter Martone, into the empty net, provided the rest of the offence.
Gavin McKenna — one of six returnees from last year’s team and the potential No. 1 pick at the 2026 NHL draft — had two assists. Cole Beaudoin also had two assists. Carter George made 28 saves.
Tomas Poletin, with two goals, Vojtech Cihar, with a goal and two assists, Petr Sikora, with a goal and an assist, and Tomas Galvas replied for the Czechs, who got 20 stops from Michal Orsulak. Vaclav Nestrasil had three assists and Adam Benak chipped in two.
Looking for its record 21st gold medal at the men’s under-20 event, Canada is aiming to rebound from a pair of disastrous showings the last two years.
The country saw its world junior dreams dashed by underdogs Czechs in consecutive quarterfinals — at the 2024 event in Sweden and 12 months ago on home soil in Ottawa. The Czechs went on to finish third at both tournaments.
One group of fans held up a sign that read “Make Canada Great Again” along the glass in the country’s end during warm-ups.
Sporting their white jerseys with a red Maple Leaf, the Canadians got a power play with the score tied 3-3 early in the third. Parekh collected a deflected McKenna pass in the high slot with his glove and then snapped his second of the night at 3:49.
Poletin got the Czechs back level at 5:21 with Canada a complete mess in the defensive zone.
But Tij Iginla, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, restored his team’s lead for good off the rush at 6:32 and MacKenzie made it 6-4 at 9:12 after taking a pass from Hage to complete a four-goal barrage in 5:23.
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Martone seals win
Galvas took advantage of an Iginla turnover at 15:26 to pull the Czechs back within one, but Martone scored into the empty net as the Canadians held on for the unconvincing victory.
Canada, which beat the Czechs for gold in Halifax in 2023, opened the scoring at 13:53 of the first — moments after George made a big stop on Benak — when McKenna found Martin in the slot with a terrific spinning, no-look pass.
The Canadian goal song “Courage” by The Tragically Hip rang around 3M Arena on the University of Minnesota campus as the players celebrated the team’s icebreaker. Hockey Canada announced earlier in the day it’s “borrowing” the Toronto Blue Jays’ home run horn whenever a puck hits the back of the opposition’s net in Minnesota.
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The Czechs equalized at 17:01 when Poletin tipped home a point shot and had words for Canada’s bench. Hage — a Montreal Canadiens prospect — restored the lead just 37 seconds later when he took a pass from Martin and ripped a puck blocker-side on Orsulak.
The Czechs knotted the score 2-2 on a delayed Canadian penalty at 4:02 of the second when Cihar tipped home a shot from the lip of George’s crease and Sikora pushed his team ahead at 12:13 after a slick Cihar setup.
Cihar then came close to making it 4-2, but Parekh calmed Canadian nerves at 17:02 when the Calgary Flames defenceman wired a shot home to send the teams to the locker rooms all square.
Canada faces a quick turnaround with its second game set for Saturday afternoon against Lativa. Finland topped Denmark 6-2 in Friday’s other Group B game. Group A, which is being played out of Grand Casino Arena in nearby Saint Paul at the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, includes the United States, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany.
