Canada comes up short in Quarter-Final loss to Czech Republic
CZECH REPUBLIC 2 – CANADA 1
Down 2-0, Ty Dellandrea (Flint Firebirds) scored with 6:41 left in the third period to cut the deficit in half but Canada would come no closer, falling by a score of 2-1 to see their perfect run at the World Under-18 Hockey Championship come to an end.
A disappointing loss sees Canada’s gold medal hopes extinguished as they return home with a 4-1 record. Canada outshot the Czechs 34-31 in the loss as goaltender Olivier Rodrigue (Drummondville Voltigeurs) made 29 saves.
“You just have to grow from everything in life – you’re not losing, you’re just learning,” said Dellandrea following the loss. “I’m going to take everything [from this experience] and hopefully one day I’ll get another crack at beating the Czechs in a situation like this. Until then, I’m just learning and growing from this whole tournament. It was a great tournament and we worked hard.”
Matej Blumel and Petr Cajka scored for the Czech Republic while goaltender Lukas Dostal made 33 saves.
Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski Oceanic), Allan McShane (Oshawa Generals) and Serron Noel (Oshawa Generals) finished in a three-way tie for Canada’s tournament scoring lead with six points each.
The Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and the United States advanced to semi-final action with wins on Thursday.
OTHER WU18 SCORES FROM THURSDAY:
Finland 5 – Belarus 2
Sweden 6 – Slovakia 1
United States 5 – Russia 1
Switzerland 5 – France 2
SUI: Stephane Patry (Erie Otters) – 1G, 1A
SUI: Gillian Kohler (Kootenay ICE) – 1G, 1A
SUI: Nico Gross (Oshawa Generals) – 1A
For full coverage of the 2018 IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship, visit IIHF.com.