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Ethan McKenzie scored the game-winning goal in the third period as Canada opened the World Junior Hockey Championship with a nerve-wracking 7-5 win over the Czech Republic on Friday.
Zane Parekh added two goals for Canada. Michael Hage and McKenzie, who had a goal and two assists each, Brady Martin, who had a goal and an assist, and Porter Marton, who hit an empty net, provided the rest of the offense.
Gavin McKenna — one of six returnees from last year's team and a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft — had two assists. Cole Beaudoin also had two assists. Carter George made 28 saves.
Tomas Poletin with two goals, Vojtech Csihar with a goal and two assists, Petr Sikora with a goal and an assist, and Tomas Galvas responded for the Czechs, who received 20 stops from Michal Orsulak. Vaclav Nestrasil had three assists and Adam Benac had two.
Seeking its record 21st gold medal at the men's under-20 event, Canada is looking to bounce back from a pair of disastrous results over the past two years.
The country saw its youthful World Cup dreams dashed by the beaten Czechs in successive quarter-finals – at the 2024 tournament in Sweden and 12 months ago on home soil in Ottawa. The Czechs took third place in both tournaments.
One group of fans held a sign reading “Make Canada Great Again” along glass on the outskirts of the country during warm-ups.
The Canadians, wearing white jerseys with a red Maple Leaf, had a power play tied 3-3 early in the third. Parekh caught McKenna's deflected pass into the top slot with his glove and then scored his second of the night at 3:49.
Poletin brought the Czechs back to 5:21, while Canada's defensive zone was in complete disarray.
But his Iginla, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, restored his team's lead for good with a rush at 6:32, and McKenzie made it 6-4 at 9:12 on a pass from Hage to cap a four-goal run at 5:23.
The 18-year-old hockey player looks back on last year's tournament and his desire to bring home a gold medal for Canada.
Martone Sils wins
Galvas took advantage of Iginla's turnover at 15:26 to pull the Czechs within one, but Martone scored into an empty net and the Canadians held on for an unconvincing victory.
Canada, who 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 Benac – when McKenna found Martin in the slot with a stunning spinning, no-look pass.
The Canadian goal song “Courage” by The Tragically Hip was played at 3M Arena on the University of Minnesota campus as players celebrated the team's icebreaker. Hockey Canada announced earlier in the day that it is “borrowing” the Toronto Blue Jays' home run signal whenever the puck hits its opponent in Minnesota.
The projected No. 1 overall pick in next year's NHL draft hails from Canada's far north – Whitehorse, Yukon. He will also play in the NCAA at Penn State during his draft year, a decision that could change the path top prospects take to the NHL. But who is Gavin McKenna?
The Czechs tied the game at 17:01 when Poletin fired home a shot and delivered words for Canada's bench. Hage, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, restored the lead just 37 seconds later when he received a pass from Martin and ripped the puck off blocker Orsulak.
The Czechs leveled the score at 2-2 thanks to a delayed Canadian penalty at 4:02 of the second when Sychar fired home a shot from the edge of George's crease and Sykora gave his team the lead at 12:13 after Sychar's deft set-up.
Seehar then came close to making it 4-2, but Parekh calmed the Canadian's nerves at 17:02 when the Calgary Flames defenseman fired home a shot to send the teams to the locker rooms.
Canada faces a quick turnaround with Game 2 on Saturday afternoon against Latvia. Finland beat Denmark 6-2 in Friday's Group B match. Group A, which takes place at the Grand Casino Arena in nearby St. Paul, home of the NHL's Minnesota Wild, includes the United States, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany.
