Canada celebrates winning the gold medal over Czechia during overtime of the world junior hockey gold-medal game in Halifax on Jan. 5, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

By CKOM News

Gold!!!

Golden goal: Canada wins world junior hockey championship with OT victory over Czechia

Jan 5, 2023 | 8:40 PM

Canada has won the 2023 world junior hockey championship.

The Canadians posted a 3-2 overtime victory over Czechia in the gold-medal game Thursday in Halifax, winning the title for the 20th time in tournament history.

Canada is the first team to repeat since the country won five straight gold medals between 2005 and 2009 after Bedard and seven other returnees also topped the pandemic-delayed summer showcase in Edmonton.

Jiri Kulich and Jakub Kos replied for Czechia. Tomas Suchanek stopped 35 shots.

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In Thursday’s final, Guenther opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 12:41 of the first period. It was Guenther’s sixth goal of the tournament, all of which he scored during a man advantage.

Canadian captain Shane Wright made it 2-0 at 4:35 of the second period, whipping a backhand past Czech goalie Tomas Suchanek.

The goal came after Suchanek had stopped shorthanded breakaways by Caedan Bankier and Zack Ostapchuk and another breakaway by Logan Stankoven, all in the opening four minutes of the period.

The Czechs got on the board at 12:30 of the third period when Jiri Kulich banged a loose puck past Canadian goalie Thomas Milic.

Just 54 seconds later, a Jakub Kos deflection hit Canada defenceman Ethan Del Mastro and trickled past Milic to tie the game.

The teams went end to end during the three-on-three overtime period before Guenther and Joshua Roy broke in two on one. Roy slid a goalmouth pass across to Guenther, who put the puck over Suchanek’s left pad for the winner.

The victory was Canada’s sixth in a row at the tournament after it lost 5-2 to Czechia on Boxing Day in the opening game for both teams.

Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard didn’t figure in the scoring Thursday, but the 17-year-old still led the tournament with nine goals and 23 points.

He was the first player in 30 years to record more than 20 points in a single event, and passed Jaromir Jagr for most points registered at the tournament by a player aged 18 or under.

Bedard, the projected top pick in the 2023 NHL draft, finished the tournament as Canada’s all-time leader in world junior play in goals and points.

The Czechs beat a disjointed Canada for the first time in 3,285 days when they picked up what was at the time a stunning 5-2 victory on Dec. 26, and appeared in the final for the first time since their only gold-medal triumphs in 2000 and 2001.

-With files from The Canadian Press