The Canadian puck nation did not take the semi-final defeat with pleasure.
The Czech Republic defeated Canada for the third year in a row in the deciders. PDO
In Canada, the loss to the Czech Republic was received with a heavy heart.
For the third year in a row, the Maple Leafs suffered a loss against the same opponent in the playoffs of the Junior World Championships. This time, the sky didn’t break in the quarter-finals, but the place in the finals was again a dream.
It says something about the bottom of Canada that the last time it went this badly was at the turn of the 1980s.
It is simply unacceptable in a puck country like Canada.
TSN’s expert Mike Johnson gave credit to the Czech Republic.
– The better team won. They deserved this result.
Czech counterattacks, fast and skilled players, and a little bit of luck at the end of the match made sure that Canada did not get anywhere in the match at any point.
– The Czech Republic punished Canada for players’ mistakes. And there were far too many of them, Johnson analyzed.
“Like a horror movie”
Super promise Gavin McKenna didn’t help his team in the final moments of the match. On the contrary. PDO
Not only has Canada now lost to the Czech Republic three straight in the playoffs, they’ve lost each time the same way: conceding the deciding goal late in the third period.
– This is like a horror movie for Canada. Same opponent, same result, same way. Three years in a row. What went wrong? TSN’s James Duthie asked during the experts’ discussion after the match.
– Simple: The Czech Republic was a better hockey team, an expert and a former hockey star Jeff O’Neill said directly.
– I expected this Canadian team to be a gold medal team. They didn’t get the job done.
Canadian hockey fans agreed. The huge disappointment unfolded in a familiar way: the keyboard swamped direct feedback everywhere you could type it on the internet.
– The Canadian team was complete garbage. Couldn’t watch it. Zero level defense. No structure whatsoever. Just a lot of hustle and bustle, like in a football league. That’s what you get.
– Someone needs to teach defenders to defend.
– The coach didn’t seem to be fully involved.
– [Gavin] McKenna was absolutely miserable, one blamed the star of the team.
– Mckenna is one of the most overrated promises of all time. Totally useless when he was most needed. He paid his team dearly with two completely unnecessary ices in the last minutes. Not a smart player
McKenna, who was promoted to be the number one reservation for the coming summer, won one point in the semi-final.
However, the young man’s head failed completely. He received a conduct penalty and flew into the shower for opening his head to the referee after the Czech’s winning goal.
Before the bronze game against Finland, McKenna has scored ten (3+7) power points in six matches in the tournament.