On the opening day of the 2026 World Junior Championship (WJC), the marquee matchup was between Canada and Czechia. The game did not disappoint fans, as it was fast-paced and back-and-forth with plenty of action. In the end, Canada rode a two-goal game from Zayne Parekh and pulled off a 7-5 victory to move to 1-0 in group play.
Game Recap
Both netminders, Carter George (Canada) and Michal Orsulak (Czechia), were strong in the respective nets in the opening 20 minutes of play. Canada did open the scoring just over halfway through the opening period, with Brady Martin (Nashville Predators) being on the receiving end of a great pass from Gavin McKenna to the slot, where Martin beat Orsulak to give Canada a 1-0 lead. That lead lasted only a few minutes until Tomas Poletin (New York Islanders) evened things up on a redirection out in front of George off a shot from Adam Benák (Minnesota Wild).
Related: 10 Things to Watch for at the 2026 World Junior Championship
Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage answered just over a minute later, with a shot from the top of the circle that went off the crossbar and in to beat Orsulak to give Canada a 2-1 lead heading into the locker room after the first period.
Czechia came out on fire in the second period and kept George busy. Their hard work paid off in the first 10 minutes of the period, with another redirection in front of George getting by him. This time, Vojtech Cihar (Los Angeles Kings) deflected a pass from Benák past him to even things up at two a side.
The deadlock lasted until just under eight minutes remaining in the period, when Petr Sikora (Washington Capitals) scored off a feed from Vaclav Nestrasil (Chicago Blackhawks). Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames) evened things up before the end of the period, scoring on a shot from the point that beat Orsulak blocker side as the game would head to the third period 3-3.
The two teams went back and forth in the third period with goals in the opening 10 minutes. Parekh scored his second goal of the game to give Canada a 4-3 lead four minutes in on the power play before Czechia answered back with Poletin scoring his second of the game less than two minutes after Parekh’s to even things back up at four apiece. Tij Iginla (Utah Mammoth) gave the Canadians a 5-4 lead a minute later off a good feed on a zone entry by Michael Misa (San Jose Sharks).
Ethan MacKenzie extended the Canadian lead to 6-4 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the period after stepping into a shot at the top of the circle from his defenseman spot at the point. The two-goal lead held up until five minutes left, when Tomas Galvas brought Czechia back within one on a goal off a Czechia rush. Porter Martone (Philadelphia Flyers) added an empty net goal to give Canada a 7-5 victory.
Both teams return to action tomorrow (Dec. 27), with Canada playing against Latvia and Czechia taking on Denmark.
