Canada has crashed out the world junior hockey championship at the quarterfinal stage for the second straight year.
Adam Jecho scored the winner on a power play with 39.4 seconds left in regulation as the tournament hosts fell 4-3 to Czech Republic on Thursday.
Petr Sikora, Jakub Stancl and Eduard Sale had the other goals for the Czechs, who also upset Canada on a lucky bounce in the dying moments 12 months ago at the under-20 event in Gothenburg, Sweden. Michael Hrabal made 29 saves.
Tanner Howe, Porter Martone and Bradly Nadeau replied for Canada, which failed to play for a medal at back-to-back world juniors for the first time since the country instituted its program of excellence in the early 1980s.
Carter George stopped 22 shots. Brayden Yager had two assists for the Canadians, who never really found their stride in the nation’s capital.
Czechs to face U.S. in semifinals
The Czechs will face the United States in Saturday’s semifinals. Sweden is set to meet Finland for the other berth in Sunday’s title game.
Down 3-2 in the third and with their tournament on the line, the Canadians finally got the equalizer when Nadeau swatted home his second of the tournament with 4:18 left in regulation.
But Canadian defenceman Andrew Gibson took a penalty for kneeing with 2:27 remaining and the Czechs finally broke through on George when Jecho scored on a one-timer to break Canadian hearts.
The Czech Republic, which took silver in 2023 after losing to Canada in the gold-medal contest before securing bronze last year, opened Thursday’s scoring just 43 seconds into the first period when Sikora redirected his fourth goal of the showcase past George on a 2-on-1.
Canadian forward Cole Beaudoin was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct midway through the period for kneeing on Sikora, who stayed down before eventually returning for the power play.
Canada, which had yet to surrender a goal at five-on-five prior to Sikora’s early icebreaker, tied the game short-handed when the six-foot-six Hrabal stopped Yager on a breakaway, but the team’s captain then found Howe in front for his first at 10:17.
Sikora was lustily booed by the crowd once he returned for the man advantage when disaster struck Canada. Sam Dickinson tried to glove a shot off the glass from Stancl, whose deflected goal off Oliver Bonk was the difference in last year’s quarters, out of the crease, but instead nudged it into George’s net at 12:45 for the forward’s fifth.
The Czechs then silenced the red-clad Canadian Tire Centre crowd with 2.1 seconds left in the period when Sale scored his fifth on a 2-on-1 to put the 20-time gold medallists in a deep hole.
Canada had nothing going on in the second — there were even a smattering of boos on home soil — before Sale took a minor penalty for kneeing and Martone tipped Tanner Molendyk’s point shot with 2:20 to play in the period.
The Canadians continued to push in the third.
Mathieu Cataford put the puck in the net midway through the period, but the play was immediately waved off for goaltender interference. Head coach Dave Cameron unsuccessfully challenged the call, which resulted in a penalty for delay of game.
Canada killed that off and Easton Cowan stopped on a partial break with under six minutes to go before Nadeau tied it.
The Canadians entered Thursday with just 10 goals through four games and the worst shooting percentage of the 10 teams in Ottawa. Discipline issues also boiled over against the Americans when they took 11 minor penalties and allowed three goals on seven U.S. power plays.
Swedes hang, U.S. beats Switzerland
In other games on Thursday, Sweden held on for a 3-2 victory over Latvia in quarterfinal action, with David Edstrom’s second-period power-play goal standing as the winner.
Sweden, which topped Group B in the preliminary round with a 4-0 record, is looking for its first world junior title since 2012.
In the relegation game earlier Thursday, Germany came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Kazakhstan 4-3.
The defending-champion Americans cruised into the semifinals with a 7-2 rout of Switzerland on Thursday.
Finland also earned a spot in the semis with a 5-3 win over Slovakia.