OTTAWA – For the first time in the modern format of the World Junior Championship, Canada failed to reach the semifinal for the second consecutive year. You have to go back to 1978-80 to find the last time Canada didn’t even have a chance to play for third place in the event.

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St. Louis Blues draft pick Adam Jecho scored a stunning power-play goal with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation as Czechia bounced Canada from the World Junior Championship quarterfinal for the second straight tournament. 

CZECHIA LEADS WITH UNDER A MINUTE TO GO 😱

Adam Jecho strikes on the power-play!#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/leL90nGeAx

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 3, 2025

UMass goalie and Utah Hockey Club prospect Michael Hrabal made 29 saves to earn his second straight quarterfinal victory over Canada.

Czechia will play USA in the semifinal Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre as they have now ensured they will play for a medal for the fourth straight World Junior tournament. 

Stunned Canadian players and staff were left searching for answers after a second-straight quarterfinal ouster, especially with a sold-out home crowd behind them. Canada lost three times in this World Juniors, including a stunning first-ever loss to Latvia in a shootout and a 4-1 defeat to rival USA on New Year’s Eve.

Canada finishes the tournament in fifth place after scoring just 13 goals over their five games in Ottawa. It was their fewest goals scored since the historically-bad eighth-place finish in 1998.

Canada did not have one player on their roster finish in the top 30 in scoring as not one player had more than three points on the roster.

Why Canada Lost At The World Juniors

Five-On-Five Scoring Didn't Show Up

Canada's inability to score made it near impossible for them to dig themselves out of holes or create separation in this tournament. Every game they played was fairly close, even though they often owned possession at five-on-five. Canada's inability to get sustained pressure, net-front presence or many rebound opportunities led to a disaster offensively. 

To have only two players with more than two points on your roster, and for both of them to have three is unacceptable for any Canadian team, but especially one with so many elite players on it. 

Canada really has no one to blame but themselves. They probably made some of the wrong choices on the roster and then they didn't utilize the players they brought the correct way. As a result, they're done at the tournament.

This year's roster was an overcorrection from last year's that Hockey Canada thought was too soft. This one wasn't any less perimeter. They were probably a touch more physical and a bit quicker, but even last year's team outscored this one's by 10 goals in the same amount of games.

I think some of the blame lays at Canada's lack of strong puck-movers on the back end. Sam Dickinson (SJS) was used a lot of different ways and never really had the chance to open it up. Tanner Molendyk (NSH) showed off his tremendous skating, but couldn't rev things up with the puck on his stick. Oliver Bonk (PHI) might have been misused from the get-go and once they got him into positions to succeed, he scored a goal. But he struggled to move pucks and never made much impact.

This team's outlook dramatically changed when 17-year-old Matthew Schaefer (2025) got injured. But if your entire blue line hinges on an underager and you don't have an adequate replacement for him to move pucks effectively, that's a problem.

No matter the excuses, there was too much talent on this roster to not score more than they did. It's hard to figure out how it went so wrong so quickly. 

This team lost to Latvia and won't play for a medal. Despite the fifth-place finish, which is kind of shocking they're that high all things considered, this is going to look about as bad as any Canada loss ever has at this tournament. It's hard to fathom.

Coaching Questions Will Grow Louder

Dave Cameron is a former NHL head coach, a World Junior-winning head coach and a successful OHL coach. But from the outset of this tournament, he did not seem to have a feel for his team. 

When asked by my podcast partner Cam Robinson if he had any regrets in this tournament, Cameron said "no" flatly. 

But there were so many questionable decisions between him and his staff this tournament. Using Oliver Bonk at the top of the power play when he famously plays bumper in London, not getting more ice time for his most talented forward in Gavin McKenna (2026), not giving more run to Berkly Catton (SEA) as another dynamic forward, calling for a goalie interference review they had no chance of winning in the game against Czechia.

On top of that, Canada canceled at least three practices during the tournament. It begs the question if their training camp is too long, or if they haven't managed rest properly. This team was broken systematically and they did not get on the ice as a group to correct those things. 

Cameron said that his team was exhausted. 

Of all the teams in this tournament, the host gets to set the thing up to their advantage. Canada's the only team staying within a 10-minute drive of the arena, they're the only team that has the Ottawa Senators dressing room, they have access to every amenity an NHL team does. 

When you host the tournament, being tired is not an excuse. Every other team is playing the same schedule.

Second Guessing Of Management 

I say it every year. Canada's World Junior team is the very toughest to make in hockey for a player. But it should be the easiest to make for management. It can totally be overthought, it can be overcorrected and in this case, it was both.

When you bow out in the quarterfinals, the 20-20 hindsight takes are coming and you basically just have to take them if you're Hockey Canada's management. And when your top scorer had three points, they're not going to stop.

Beckett Sennecke (ANA), is a legit goal scorer with a 6-foot-4 frame and he was not here. I'm not on the Andrew Cristall (WSH) hype train, but with the numbers he's put up in the WHL historically, he's a tough guy to leave off. I don't know how big of a difference those guys would have made.

In the end, the most egregious decisions came in how they constructed their defense. I think a lot of these guys are going to be good NHL players. That said, Canada's blue line had no dynamic element. They had zero transition offense in this tournament because they couldn't get through the neutral zone quickly or cleanly. That is part of where a puck-moving defense can help you.

The two guys that are getting most of the attention are Zayne Parekh (CGY) and Carter Yakemchuk (OTT). Both have high point totals, can run a power play and can help you score. Yes, both are liabilities defensively at times. But they both bring a dynamic element that Canada clearly lacked. 

You can put as much as you want on the players, but this team didn't lack effort. They might have lacked discipline and precision, but they played hard. Some of the problems that faced this team were simply construction based and that's a tough pill to swallow.

Team Canada World Junior Championship Schedule

Thurs., Dec. 26

• Canada 4, Finland 0

Fri., Dec. 27

• Canada 2, Latvia 3 (Shootout)

Sun., Dec. 29

• Canada 3, Germany 0

Tues., Dec. 31

• USA 4, Canada 1

Thurs., Jan. 2

• Canada 3, Czechia 4

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