Casper Juustovaara and Viktor Eklund on Monday scored first-period goals and Sweden won its third World Junior Hockey Championship title, beating the Czech Republic 4-2 in the first all-European final since 2016.
“It was time for a gold, and we did it,” said forward Antron Frodell, drafted third overall by Chicago last summer. “It’s amazing. We’re a big family. We love each other. We did the right things for the team to win.”
Sweden also won in 1981 and 2012. The Czech Republic won their lone titles in 2000 and 2001.
Photo: AP
Sascha Boumedienne gave Sweden a 3-0 lead at 3:47 of the third.
Adam Jiricek and Matej Kubiesa scored for the Czech Republic, with Kubiesa striking with 24 seconds left. Ivar Stenberg capped the scoring with an empty-netter with eight seconds left.
“I think Sweden played better from the beginning,” Czech Republic coach Patrik Augusta said. “Our legs weren’t going, and the game against Canada last night took a lot of energy from us, not just physically, but mentally. We were looking for a little spark, and it didn’t come until the last couple of minutes, which was too late.”
In the third-place game, Sam O’Reilly scored twice, Gavin McKenna and Michael Hage each had four points to help Canada beat Finland 6-3.
McKenna had a goal and three assists, and Hage had four assists. Zayne Parekh had a goal and an assist to break the Canadian record for points by a defenseman with 13 on six goals and seven assists. Alex Pietrangelo had 12 in 2010.
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