Czechia pulled off a massive comeback to win 8-5 over Finland and solidified the bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. This would be Czechia’s third bronze medal in the WJC and their sixth medal altogether, as the other three medals came from their two golds and one silver in their tournament history. Czechia came into this matchup after losing 5-2 in the semifinals to Sweden on Thursday (Jan 4.) and looked exhausted from playing a tight first two periods of the game with them. Despite that, they came out strong, and it’s still shocking to see how far they came in the tournament after an unfortunate loss in their opening game to Slovakia.
The game started with a collapse from Czechia as Rasmus Kumpulainen opened the game for Czechia at 6:13 into the game, and then not too long after, Jani Nyman finished the pass from Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Jesse Pulkkinen and made it 2-0. Michael Hrabal was pulled after that, and backup Jakub Vondraš made his debut in the tournament for Czechia to provide relief for Hrabal. Czechia suddenly found an opening at 16:16 in the first with a goal by Jiří Kulich on the power play off a pass by Matyáš Melovský and Tomáš Hamara. At the beginning of the second at 8:37, Jakub Stancl ties the game at 2-2 for Czechia on a nice wrist shot. Then, at 8:52 in the second, Konsta Helenius scores on a pass in from of the net from Kasper Kulonummi and Oiva Keskinen, and 19 seconds later, Lenni Hameenaho gets the game to 4-2 for Finland on an assist from Kulonummi and Jere Lassila.
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At 14:32, while Finland was on the power play, Hameenaho scored again, and Finland went up 5-2. A minute before the end of the second, Ondřej Becher makes it 5-3 on a breakaway pass by Stancl and Aleš Čech while shorthanded. Then, in the third period at 4:41 on the power play, Kulich strikes again on a one-time pass from Melovský and Hamara to make it 5-4. To tie it at 5-5, Becher scored his second of the game on a point shot off a faceoff pass by Eduard Šalé and Kulich at 18:04 in the third. 15 seconds later, Hamara gets the game-winning goal at 18:19, and it’s 6-5 Czechia. The lead forced Finland to pull their goalie twice, and Czechia got two empty net goals by Dominik Rymon in at 18:52 and Becher at 18:54 to complete his hat trick.
Czechia Special Teams Flourishes
A key factor for Czechia’s goalscoring in this game would have to be their special teams, which were very strong in this game whether it was on the power play or penalty kill, they were able to find success. They killed three out of four penalties that they allowed on the penalty kill and even scored a shorthanded goal to cut the lead to two goals. However, the power play stood out the most, and they did not miss a single opportunity. Czechia had three power plays and scored on all three of them, the special teams were a big part of their comeback. In total, the special teams had half of their goals in this game, which was surprising considering they struggled with the special teams in the opening games of the tournament.
As for players on the special teams, Kulich played fantastic on the power play, scoring two goals, one of them getting them to 5-4. Kulich was quiet in Czechia’s most crucial games this tournament, which wasn’t normal considering he was very present when needed in last year’s tournament. However, he was very clutch for Czechia when they needed him to win bronze, and credit also has to go to Melovský who has been a playmaking machine for the entire tournament. Melovský and Kulich seemed to pair well combining for a total of five points on the power play in this game and it seemed to work well since Melovský found a lot of success at passing and Kulich is a great shooter.
A Late Comeback for Czechia
In the second period, Czechia was down 13-8 in shots. and Finland looked like they had them in complete control. This was after going even in shots at 6-6 in the first period, but once again, credit to the special teams for keeping Czechia afloat. By the end of the second period, Finland started to ease their dominant play, and Czechia took advantage of it. With Finland trying to get under their skin, it sparked Czechia to attack 10 times more than they did in the first and second periods. After pulling out goaltender Hrabal, who played every game of the tournament for Czechia, Vondraš had to come in for the first time in this tournament and prevent any more damage.
The Sudbury Wolves starter faced 20 shots and stopped 17, and in the third period, he completely shut down Finland for Czechia to complete the comeback. With Vondraš pushing Finland back, Czechia did a great job at exhausting Finland and using their speed to counter. Czechia stuck to their net-crashing strategy for the tieing goal, with Becher getting in front to get them back, and some of it all because of their support on the blue line to keep the pressure in Finland’s zone. By the end of the third, Czechia had turned the tables and outshot Finland 17-4, which was the biggest shot total of the game between the two teams.
Becher Gets a Hat Trick
Becher hasn’t stood out as much in this tournament but was clutch for Czechia to cut Finland’s lead and then tie the game at 5-5 in the third. He was all over Finland, forechecking relentlessly to win the puck and finding chances for either a shot or a pass. Becher almost didn’t get the breakaway goal as it was under review for offside, but since his foot carried the puck with control, it was later ruled a goal. He finished the game with five points on a hat trick (three goals) and two assists for Czechia and played well on their penalty kill. Becher had five points before this game and now ends the tournament with 10 points, putting him in the top three spot in points for Czechia behind Kulich and Melovský.
Before entering the tournament, Becher had 45 points in 30 games with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL and has not been drafted by an NHL team. His penalty-killing ability was a massive part of why he was on the team, but has proved this tournament why he can also be considered a great goalscoring option for Czechia. This is also his first appearance in the WJC. He’ll now return to the WHL with the Cougars, as he is fourth on the team in points. Overall, Czechia’s core play was stellar to get a handful of points in the comeback.