SAINT PAUL — Canada will play for bronze at the world junior hockey championship.
Tomas Poletin scored with 1:14 left in the third period as Czechia ended Canadian gold-medal dreams for a third straight year with a 6-4 victory in the semifinals at the men’s under-20 tournament Sunday.
Vojtech Cihar had two goals, including one into the empty net, for the Czechs, who also eliminated Canada at the quarterfinal stage in both 2024 and 2025 — the first time the country failed to make the event’s final four in consecutive years.
Adam Benak and Maximilian Curran, with a goal and two assists each, and Adam Titlbach provided the rest of the offence. Michal Orsulak made 20 saves.
Tij Iginla, Zayne Parekh, Porter Martone and Cole Reschny replied for Canada. Jack Ivankovic stopped 31 shots. Michael Hage had two assists.
Czechia will play Sweden for gold on Monday after Canada faces Finland for bronze. The world junior final will not include Canada or the United States for the first time since 2016 when Finland beat Russia.
Curran scored the winner when the puck just squeaked over Canada’s goal line off his sakes with 76 seconds left in regulation before Cihar iced it into the empty net.
Cihar gave the Czechs a 4-3 lead at 9:49 of the third after blowing past Canadian forward Caleb Desnoyers off the rush and beating Ivankovic in tight.
Canada didn’t have much going at even strength throughout the game, and that continued as the clock clicked down before star forward Gavin McKenna — one of the top prospects for the 2026 NHL draft — was whistled for cross-checking, but the Czechs were assessed a bench minor for too many players on the ice.
Canada’s Michael Misa was then whistled for delay of game for having been judged to put his hand on the puck to give the Czechs a 4-on-3 man advantage, but Ivankovic stood tall before Martone tucked home a loose puck with 2:41 remaining and teams back at full strength to set off wild celebrations on the Canadian bench.
But Poletin scored the winner and Reschny was whistled for goalie interference with 53.7 seconds left to seal another Czech disappointment.
Canada was slow out of the gate, but opened the scoring on a power play at 15:14 of the first when Iginla — the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla — fired home from Orsulak’s doorstep.
Czechia replied at 16:56 when Curran banged in a rebound after Ivankovic’s stopped a Tomas Galvas point shot.
Canada, which dressed 12 forwards and eight defencemen, lost top-line winger Brady Martin to a suspected upper-body injury late in the period when he got the worst of a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Czech defenceman Matyas Man.
Czechia went up 2-1 at 3:44 of the second when Titlbach fired past the stick-less Ivankovic.
Canada scored its second power-play goal of the night at 12:38 on a two-man advantage after a couple of close calls when Parekh fired a shot that appeared to go off forward Reschny — a fellow member of the Calgary Flames organization — in front before Benak pushed the Czechs in front late in the period.
Titlbach snapped a 2-2 tie with 42.8 seconds left in the second after Canadian defenceman Ethan MacKenzie turned the puck over in the neutral zone. The Czechs raced the other way on an odd-man rush and Benak fired past Ivankovic before jumping into the glass at Grand Casino Arena in celebration.
Canada had a great chance to go ahead moments earlier when Hage was awarded a penalty shot. The centre’s first effort ended with a trip from Orsulak, and officials awarded the Montreal Canadiens prospect another chance. But Hage lost the handle at the critical moment on his second try to keep things knotted up.
Reschny got Canada back even at 3:59 of the third when he drove in front and stuff his shot past Orsulak before Cihar provided the winning margin.
Canada, which lost to Sunday’s opponent in the quarters on home soil last year in Ottawa after suffering the same fate in Sweden exactly 12 months earlier, beat Czechia 7-5 on Boxing Day in a game that had plenty of fireworks. Martone, the Canadian captain, crossed the red line and bumped an opponent with his shoulder in warm-ups, while Parekh and fellow defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson also looked to intimidate before puck drop on Dec. 26.
Martone then took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in regulation for tapping Czech forward Adam Novotny’s backside and faced a disciplinary committee for the warm-up antics before later apologizing for his actions.
Canada, which beat Czechia for gold in overtime at the 2023 tournament in Halifax, also failed to shake hands after the final buzzer, which forced the sport’s national governing body to offer its own mea culpa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2026.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
