Discipline Fails Canada at WJC

For the second year in a row, Canada has finished the World Junior Championship in disappointing fashion.

Aug 2, 2024; Plymouth, MI, USA; Canada forward Cole Beaudoin (29) celebrates a goal against Finland with teammates during the second period of the 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase at USA Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images / David Reginek-Imagn Images

The 2025 World Junior Championship Quarterfinal matchup between Czechia and Canada sounded like a home game for the Canadian under-20 squad. For all intents and purposes, it was a home game. Czechia was the home team on paper as the higher seed, but the Ottawa crowd was heavily favoring Canada throughout the game.

So when Canada tied the game 3-3 in the third period, the arena shook with excitement. After a stunning loss to Latvia and a thumping by the United States in group play, it appeared for a moment that Team Canada would shed the stench of their quarterfinal elimination in last year's tournament.

But with just over two minutes left in the game, Canada defender and Nashville Predators prospect Andrew Gibson took a minor penalty for kneeing. On the ensuing power play, the Czechian squad made Canada pay and scored the go-ahead goal with 39 seconds remaining.

Throughout the WJC, Canada struggled with discipline. According to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) website, they took 34 minor penalties, a five-minute major, two 10-minute misconducts, and a game misconduct penalty.

22 of those total penalty minutes were taken during Canada's loss to the USA. In their preliminary matchup, frustrations turned into scuffles almost immediately from the opening face-off. But the dagger in their effort was taking four separate minor penalties in the third period and giving an absolutely loaded USA team that many power play opportunities.

That was their biggest issue yet again in a surprising, but predictable loss to Czechia. Gibson will see the brunt of the criticism and that's fair. He took two unnecessary penalties in the third period, and they proved costly. But it wasn't just the young defender who didn't keep his composure.

Forward Cole Beaudoin lasted roughly 10 minutes in the first period before receiving a game misconduct penalty. After a knee-on-knee collision, the officials ruled it worthy of an ejection and Beaudoin's night was over due to the penalty. It put the Canadian side down a forward with 50 minutes of game action left, and robbed them of one of their best players in an elimination game.

You can disagree with the call on Beaudoin or some of the penalties called, but what can't be debated is that Canada put themselves in dangerous situations countless times against Czechia. They made it a heck of a game with their comeback effort, but their lack of discipline made their early elimination a foregone conclusion.

Now Hockey Canada must deal with the rough reality of two straight years losing in the quarterfinals of the WJC. As the top hockey nation in the world, it's considered an outright failure to finish this low once, let alone twice in a row. They'll need to regroup, reevaluate, and retool in order to get back into medal contention in 2026.

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