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GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Before entering the mixed zone, Maverick Lamoureux and Jake Furlong hugged and reached around each other to wipe tears from their eyes. Matt Poitras stood nearby, red-cheeked and speechless as his teammates passed by and exchanged words.
It was witnessed in the tunnel beneath Frolundaborg shortly after Jakub Stankur scored with 11 seconds left to help the Czech Republic beat Canada 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2024 World Junior Championship.
The winning shot hit defenseman Oliver Bonk in the leg, hit the post and passed goalkeeper Matisse Rousseau. This tournament was characterized by Canada’s disjointed front line and an inability to score the goals they needed when they needed them. Initially losing 0-2 to Sweden, they faced the Czech Republic in the elimination round, but then the game was tied and controlled play as Canada pushed in, but the Czechs eventually got the better of the game. Couldn’t get anything.
That’s when Team Canada, already missing five players from the NHL due to an injury to defenseman Tanner Molendyk and an infection to presumptive No. 1 D Tristan Renaud, lost two of its top four defensemen. , which started even before the tournament began. There was also a conflict with Matt Savoy, and the overseas trips of defensemen Jorian Donovan and Ty Nelson and forward Jaguar Farkas were delayed.
In the end, Canada, who was aiming for their third straight victory, was stunned. Their tournament ended in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2019 at the hands of the team they beat in the gold medal match exactly one year ago.
Savoie, who was dealing with a lower-body injury, still wasn’t 100 percent when the game ended, but could only describe it as “heartbreaking.” In the room after the game, he said all they could share with each other was how grateful they were to be together. For many of them, that journey began at the 2020 Youth Olympics.
“We never want to lose like that,” said Savoie, one of the team’s co-captains. “This is quite a heartbreaking incident for the entire group and our management staff, but we have no choice but to pull together and get through this.”
Lamoureux, who was selected as one of Canada’s top three players at this tournament, couldn’t believe it.
“I’m used to being able to smile all the time, but today I don’t have one,” he said. “We just didn’t get off to a good start. The first period was non-existent. And the rest of the game, we played very well. And for them, it’s a bounce back, a lucky bounce back. It happens and Touched the stick, touched the pads, and came off the post. That happens in hockey, especially in this tournament.
“Things like that happen all the time. It happened to us today.”
Canada head coach Alain Letang said the past two periods were Canada’s best of the tournament.
“That’s unfortunate, because I don’t think we were able to get into the game fast enough and often enough,” he said of Canada’s slow start, which saw them trailing 2-0 early on.
Still, he was proud of his group.
“From Oakville (selection camp) through this entire tournament, I thought our team did a good job of being resilient,” he said. “I was proud of how they bounced back. There were guys there who fought through little bruises and bruises and fatigue and frustration. I thought it was a mature group overall. Things didn’t go our way tonight… Sometimes when you play the game long enough, things go in the wrong direction.
Nearby, the Czechs, who had just beaten Canada for the first time in the medal round of the world juniors, all had smiles on their faces.
Stankel, the main character, said he can’t even express it in words.
“It feels great,” he said. “There’s a lot of screaming (in the locker room), I’m telling you. It’s unbelievable.”
What went wrong for Canada?
Canada’s loss might be boiled down to losing the goaltending battle. Arizona prospect Michael Hrabal was great. He made 28 saves and made many tough stops as the 6-foot-6 athletic netminder proved very difficult to withstand as Canada mounted pressure throughout the second half of the game. I decided. Rousseau had some good moments, saving a penalty shot for his first goal, but unfortunately his second goal sank the Canadians.
Canada also suffered from a lack of depth. Maclin Chebrini had a great tournament, but the forward, who was ranked in the top six overall, didn’t show up and make an impact in the tournament’s tough games. Canada also had to do too much with its top pairing of Denton Matejczuk and Lamoureux unable to get reliable playing time from too many other blueliners. — Corey Pronman, NHL Prospects Senior Writer
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(Photo: Adam Ihse/AFP via Getty Images)
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