Team Canada entered Monday’s action as heavy favourites to win the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, but, ultimately, it was Team Czechia that came away with the Boxing Day TKO.
The Czechs defeated Canada by a 5–2 score on Day 1 of the 2023 World Juniors. Despite the best efforts of Connor Bedard and Shane Wright, the latter of whom was recognized as Canada’s top player, the hosts fell behind 2–1 in the first period and never recovered.
Bedard and Adam Fantilli both tried to score on “The Michigan” move in the first period of the game but couldn’t get the puck past Czech goaltender Tomas Suchanek, who made 36 saves in the victory.
At the other end, Canadian starter Benjamin Gaudreau allowed five goals on 17 shots before being replaced by Thomas Milic, who stopped all 10 he faced the rest of the way.
Wright opened the scoring for Team Canada at the 10:33 mark of the first period, deflecting a long-range shot by Anaheim Ducks defence prospect Olen Zellweger between Suchanek’s legs for a goal on Canada’s first power-play opportunity.
The Captain strikes first for Canada, Shane Wright makes it a 1-0 game! 🇨🇦#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/JPJZfd7Nqz
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 26, 2022
But a pair of Czech defenders named David — Spacek and Moravec — responded in kind before the end of the first period to give the visitors a 2–1 lead, and Stanislav Svozil made it 3–1 for Czechia less than a minute into the second period.
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Author: Mike Gould / The Leafs Nation
