Connor Bedard and Stanislav Svozil will return to Regina with a pair of medals from the 2023 IIHF World Juniors. Tonight we find out which player will win the gold medal while the other will have to settle for a silver.
Canada and Czechia will meet in the Gold Medal game tonight in Halifax after both countries picked up emotional wins on Wednesday.
Bedard continued his record-breaking tournament with a goal and an assist in the Canadian 6-2 win over Czechia. Over six games, Bedard has accumulated 23 points during the tournament, which is one point off the second-highest total set by Markus Naslund with Team Sweden in 1993. That year Peter Forsberg also of Sweden, established the all-time mark in a single tournament with 31.
Last night Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Thomas Milic was the biggest reason for Team Canada coming back to defeat the Americans with a 43-save performance.
Czechia came from behind to defeat Sweden 2-1 in overtime to gain a spot in the championship final.
Besides the Pats captain, the Czechia team have been the talk of the tournament. Regardless of today’s decision, Czechia will claim their first medal at the World Juniors since 2007. The last time they won a gold medal was in 2001.
Svozil is second on the Czechia for points during the tournament with eight (1G-7A).
Tonight’s game will be a rematch between the two teams. On Boxing Day, Czechia surprised Canada with an upset win and would go on to finish on top of Pool A.
In the Bronze medal game, USA will face Sweden after the two teams were defeated in Wednesday’s action.
