CMJ: Canada eliminated in the quarter-finals

Dose
Crédit:

Since the start of the tournament, Canada’s performances have greatly disappointed its supporters.

On this Thursday evening, Dave Cameron’s team faced the Czech Republic in their quarter-final match.

He even made a change to his lineup.

Porter Martone returned to the starting lineup, while Carson Rehkopf sat this one out.

Here are the combinations for the match:

Let’s just say we were expecting a much better start to the game for the Canadians…

It took only 43 seconds for the Czech Republic to open the scoring… Petr Sikora scored the goal.

Then, a penalty taken just four minutes into the first period wiped out the power play they had just earned four seconds earlier…

And about five minutes later, Cole Beaudoin was ejected from the game for a play that, in my opinion, should have only been a two-minute penalty.

Beaudoin checked Sikora, but the angle of the collision (with no last-second directional change) hit the Czech’s knee.

We know that the IIHF is very strict when it comes to punishing such actions, even though there was no intent to injure on Beaudoin’s part.

I leave you to judge the verdict for yourselves, but it’s contact in a contact sport that caused an injury. Sikora quickly returned to the game and there were boos when he had the puck.

Moreover, Sikora tried (too late) to avoid Beaudoin and somewhat put himself in that situation.

Fortunately, during this five-minute major penalty, the Canadians equalized.

Tanner Howe placed the puck behind the giant 6-foot-6 goalie, Michael Hrabal.

Brayden Yager had a breakaway, and while retrieving his rebound, he sent it in front of the net to Howe.

But just moments later, during the Czechs’ power play, Sam Dickinson pushed the puck into his own net…

And at the very end of the first period, Dickinson was responsible for a turnover that allowed the Czechs to double their lead…

Overall, many players struggled in the first period, but guys like Porter Martone did well despite the score after 20 minutes.

The second period was much calmer, but it was all in favor of Canada.

And who else but Martone to narrow the gap at the end of the second.

The final period of regulation time heavily favored the Canadians. We had to wait nearly half of the engagement to see the first shot from the Czechs.

Ethan Gauthier almost equalized, but the goal was ultimately disallowed for goalie interference.

The Canadians did not stop buzzing in the opposing territory. They completely dominated, especially in terms of shots.

Finally, the long-awaited third goal for Canada finally came.

Bradly Nadeau saves the day with just over four minutes left in the final engagement.

But what had to happen happened: The Czechs scored with 39 seconds left, thus eliminating Canada.

This is a repeat of last year’s World Junior Championship: A premature elimination in the quarter-finals for Canada after coming back from a two-goal deficit, only to lose the game at the very end.

Another disappointment for Canada at the WJC…

Overtime

Porter Martone proved he should never have been removed from the lineup. Despite the struggles in the first period, he was probably the best player and he completely changed the tempo of the game. Unfortunately, Canada still lost the game and their tournament is over.