Moose Jaw Warriors forward Martin Rysavy and Team Czechia ended up finishing in fourth place at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton.
But their 3-1 loss to Sweden in the bronze medal game on Saturday isn’t what they’ll be most remembered for in the pandemic-delayed summer hockey event.
Rysavy and Czechia pulled off the upset of the tournament back on Aug. 17, knocking off the previously unbeaten United States 4-2 in their quarter-final matchup at Rogers Place.
That earned them a date with Canada in the semifinal on Thursday, and Czechia would end up dropping a 5-2 decision to the eventual tournament champions.
Czechia finished with a 1-2-0-1 record in the round robin to land in fourth place in their pool. Among their losses was a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Canada, with Rysavy scoring Czechia’s lone goal.
He did so in nifty fashion, too, going in on a two-on-one shorthanded break with Jakub Kos and roofing a shot behind Dylan Garand just under the crossbar. The goal wasn’t immediately counted, but a review confirmed the marker and Rysavy had his second goal of the tournament. It opened scoring in the contest and came with 5:10 gone in the opening frame.
Rysavy’s first marker came in their opening game against Slovakia, as he scored 2:22 into the second period to cue a comeback that would see Czechia overcome a 2-0 deficit and go on to a 5-4 win.
Warriors captain Daemon Hunt was supposed to play for Canada in the World Juniors, but a pre-tournament broken finger during practice leading up to the event saw him replaced at the last minute.
It was the third time circumstances worked against Hunt playing in the tournament -- an in-bubble COVID-19 bout saw him scratched at the last minute for the 2021 event, while a broken hand in Team Canada training camp took him out of the running in 2022.
Hunt was in Edmonton for the proceedings, though, and had a front row seat as Canada won their gold medal with a 3-2 overtime victory over Finland.
Kent Johnson was the OT hero, picking up his own rebound after nearly scoring on his first shot and outduelling a pair of defenders to lift a shot over Juha Jatkola and into the net 3:20 into extra time.
Moments earlier, Mason McTavish kept Canada’s hopes alive by knocking a bouncing puck off the goalline just when it looked like Finland was going to score the game winner.
The gold medal was Canada’s 19th overall and third in the last five years.
