Canada buries Slovakia in first period, gets playoff nemesis Czechia in semifinal

MINNEAPOLIS — Three years after Connor Bedard’s overtime heroics lifted Canada past Slovakia in the world junior quarterfinals, there was no similar drama from Friday night’s rematch at 3M Arena in Minnesota.

Instead, Canada leveraged a five-goal first period to thrash the Slovaks 7-1 and advance to the semifinals for the first time since Bedard’s magic in 2023.

Defenceman Zayne Parekh took sole possession of the tournament scoring lead with two assists, while four different Canadian skaters also tallied two points.

The win earns the Canadians a date with Czechia, the nation that bounced them each of the past two years in the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the bracket, Sweden and Finland will clash after the latter eliminated the host United States in a 4-3 overtime thriller at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

After 14 minutes of evenly matched hockey to open the contest, 14 different Canadian skaters — including 10 of 12 forwards — found their way on to the scoresheet in a matter of six minutes.

The dam broke when Keaton Verhoeff’s low shot from the top of the circles produced a rebound that Cole Reschny buried on the doorstep for his second of the tournament.

Less than a minute later, Tij Iginla doubled the lead, snapping his third goal of the tournament over the glove of Slovakia’s Michal Pradel from the left circle. Michael Misa made it 3-0 by driving off the half-boards into the slot and beating Pradel low glove side.

A goaltender change for Slovakia did nothing to stem the tide. Alan Lendak was immediately tested and beaten when Carson Carels’ point shot kicked out a rebound that Sam O’Reilly chipped home to make it 4-0.

Tomas Pobezal’s late high-sticking penalty opened the door for Canada’s first power play, and the top unit delivered in spectacular fashion — Michael Hage to Gavin McKenna to Brady Martin on a tic-tac-toe sequence that left Lendak helpless and capped a dominant stretch.

Canada headed into the first intermission up 5-0 with a commanding 16-6 edge in shots.

In the second, Slovakia’s Jan Chovan took a hooking penalty just 17 seconds in, handing Canada its second power play of the night. The Slovaks managed to survive despite facing a wave of Grade-A looks, but the ice was already tilted — shots were 24-6 five minutes into the period as Canada continued to dictate pace and possession.

The pressure eventually broke through again at the midway point. A confident rush from Verhoeff up the middle ended with a subtle slip pass to Porter Martone, who snapped a low blocker-side shot home to make it 6-0.

Just a minute later, Parekh’s low point shot produced a rebound at the left side of the crease that Beaudoin buried to push the lead to seven. Starting the day in a four-way tie for the tournament lead in scoring, Parekh took sole possession with his second helper of the night.

Slovakia showed brief signs of life late in the period. After killing another Canadian power play, Chovan snapped a long-range shot from the left side past Canada’s Jack Ivankovic with three minutes remaining in the middle frame to make it 7-1.

The period ended with Canada firmly in control, outshooting Slovakia 36-13.

The game might as well have ended right then, as Canada put things on autopilot the rest of the way to seal the win.

Canada blitzed Slovakia 42-22 on the shot clock.

Similar to his previous start against Denmark, in which he stopped 12 of 13 shots in a 9-1 win, Ivankovic wasn’t overly busy, but was sharp when called upon, turning aside 21 of Slovakia’s 22 attempts.

With the victory, Canada improved to 17-0-1 all-time and 4-0 in quarterfinals against Slovakia.