December 26, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

If you thought that Switezerland beating Finland on Boxing Day at the World Juniors would be the surprise of the day, then you were wrong. I don’t think many people expected to be reading a headline that says “Czechia Defeats Canada 5-2”.

This is the first time Czechia has ever beaten Canada in regulation at the World Juniors, and it’s the first time they’ve beaten Canada at all since 2014. Give Czechia credit. They deserved this win. I watched them beat the United States in the quarterfinals in the 2022 World Juniors live and in person. They’re a big team that skates well and gets solid goaltending.

Having said that, there will be talking points from a Canadian perspective. The first talking point is the Zach Dean hit that was called a major penalty and a match penalty. It was called a hit to the head, which is always called as it was called in this situation. My opinion during the game was that Dean didn’t even make contact with the head. It appeared as though the first point of contact was with the Czechia player’s upper chest.

This is the rule regarding hits to the head taken directly from the IIHF rulebook:

“There is no clean check to the head or neck. The Player delivering the hit must avoid hitting the opponent’s head or neck. A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. This rule supersedes all similar actions regarding hits to the head and neck. When a Player is skating with their head up, whether they are in possession of the puck and may reasonably be expecting impending contact, an opponent does not have the right to hit them on the head or neck. A Player who delivers a bodycheck to an opponent who is skating with the puck with their head down in the direction of the Player and does not use an upward motion or drive their body up into the opponent, shall not be penalized for an “illegal check to the head”. A penalty for illegal checking to the head or neck will be assessed if one of the following occurs when a player checks an opponent:

(I) A Player who directs a hit of any sort, with any part of their body or equipment, to the head or neck of an opposing Player or drives or forces the head of an opposing Player into the protective glass or boards using any part of their upper body.
(II) A Player who extends and directs any part of their upper body to contact the head or neck of an opponent.
(III) A Player who extends their body upward or outward in order to reach their opponent or uses any part of the upper body to contact an opponent’s head or neck.
(IV) A Player who jumps (leaves their skates) to deliver a blow to the head or neck of an opponent.”

The language in the rule says nothing about a “first” point of contact. It does refer to a “main” point of contact. That suggests that it doesn’t matter whether the head was hit first or second. If the head was hit at all, then it’s a hit to the head. When I broke the video down frame by frame, it was difficult to see any contact to the head; but the evidence of the player sustaining a cut to the nose and not returning to the game is damning.

Dean’s feet barely left the ice after contact was made. I don’t think he jumped into the hit. His feet left the ice as a result of the force of the contact. However, there was a clear upward drive of his upper body and arms into the Czechia player’s upper body. I’m trying really hard to find a way to prove the call wrong; but after reading the rule and analyzing the footage closely, I can’t disagree with the call.

Related: Canada Announces 2023 World Junior Roster

The next talking point resulting from this game is the merit of starting Benjamin Gaudreau over Tomas Milic. I speculated that Milic would be the clear started over Gaudreau in the artcile linked above this paragraph. Milic has a .919 save percentage and a 2.35 GAA this season, while Gaudreau has a .868 save percentage and a 3.62 GAA this season. Those numbers all represent career best marks in the OHL for Gaudreau. He has never had good numbers in the OHL. I learned that Gaudreau was the starting goalie for Canada in the 2021 World U-18 Championships, and he won the gold medal with a .919 save percentage and a 2.20 GAA in the tournament.

That’s all well and good, but one good tournament two years ago shouldn’t make a guy the starter automatically. Gaudreau ranks 38th in the OHL in save percentage and he’s tied for 33rd in the OHL in GAA. Remember, these are career best numbers for Gaudreau! This is also just one of the three CHL leagues! Milic ranks seventh in the WHL in save percentage and ninth in GAA. He also led his Seattle Thunderbirds to the WHL Final last year, and he was greta in that series despite losing to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

I’m struggling to understand how Gaudreau made the team let alone how he ended up getting the start on Boxing Day in what should be Canada’s toughest game of the round robin stage. Canada cut William Rousseau, who has a .919 save percentage and a 2.06 GAA in the QMJHL this season. There has to be room for a guy to steal a spot at camp, but I really don’t understand this decision. Gaudreau and Tyler Brennan have similarly bad numbers this season. I don’t get how two goalies with such poor numbers in the current season even got invites to camp. I would understand taking a top prospect goalie having a slightly down year over a prospect that is having a hot year, but Gaudreau was a third rounder in 2021. He’s clearly a decent prospect, but not one that should’ve been gifted the starting gig in this tournament based on pure talent alone. I can’t wrap my head around the decision to start Gaudreau!

I’m not pinning the loss solely on Gaudreau. There were missed assignments on multiple goals against in this game. Ultimately, Canada only scored two goals, and that isn’t enough to win most nights. Having said that, there were a couple of goals against that I’m sure Gaudreau would like to have back.

The tournament is not over for Canada though. They will try to get back on track when they face Germany on Wednesday.