Canada falls behind early, loses late, goes home early.
The 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship will long be remembered by Canadians as a year with lacking defence, sub-par goaltending and the inability to score timely goals when it truly mattered.
On Tuesday, Team Canada was ousted from medal contention by way of a shocking 3-2 loss to Czechia in the quarterfinal round.
Canada will not advance to the semifinal or even have a chance at medalling following a disappointing showing for Canadian fans that travelled to Gothenburg, Sweden.
"Feels like the world's ending a bit," Canadian captain Fraser Minten said after the loss. "Such an unbelievable opportunity for all of us in our careers. You never really know if you're going to get another look representing your country or playing on such a global stage."
"It sucks," he added. "We had a brutal start."
But it wasn't just the team's leader that was heartbroken following the shoddy performance.
"Gripped my stick a bit too tight," Boston Bruins forward Matthew Poitras said. "I feel like I kind of let some of these guys down, let the country down."
"We left so much on the table," he added. "It's the worst feeling in the world."
Sure, any of Connor Bedard (Chicago), Adam Fantilli (Columbus), Zach Benson (Buffalo), Shane Wright (Seattle) and Kevin Korchinski (Chicago) each could have been on the team, but they clearly had better things to do.
Canada fell behind 2-0 quick in the first period, before battling back with two goals in the second. But ultimately, it was the game-winner which was Jakub Stancl's second of the game, coming with just 11 seconds left, fooling netminder Mathis Rousseau off a bad bounce.
Going home early, all the Canadians can do is shake their heads in defeat, while the Czechs will be playing for either a gold or bronze medal based on how things go in the semifinals.
Dominion City, Manitoba's Denton Mateychuk was named the Canadian player of the game and one of Canada's top three players from the entire tournament.
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