The 17-year-old Canadian super talent broke all records
Halifax. It became clear last night – the young crowns will meet the Czech Republic in the semi-finals.
Canadian super talent Conor Bedard broke all records and made history last night when he ended a senseless drama against Slovakia.
Now, Bedard’s Canada faces off against the United States in a truly heavyweight clash in the second semi-final.
The Junior World Cup qualifiers are arranged so that the highest-ranked team from the group stage faces the lowest-ranked team in one semi-final, while the second-ranked team meets the third-placed team in the other.
The Czech Republic was ranked first before the quarter-finals and Sweden was the lowest ranked of the five nations.
Yesterday’s junior crowns won the quarter-final against Finland 3-2 after a magical turnaround in the final minutes.
The conditions for the next three quarter-final matches were crystal clear: if the three favorite teams – the Czech Republic, the USA and Canada – won their matches, then Sweden was waiting for the Czech Republic.
And sure enough, it turned out that way.
The Czech Republic overtook Switzerland 9-1, and the USA thrashed Germany 11-1.
Tougher than the candidates, Canada had to work. But last night, Sweden time, Canada did their part when they won their quarter-final against Slovakia 4-3 after extra time.
Canada won the shootout 57-27, but the Slovakians pushed the home team into the final.
Bedard broke all records
The winner of the big match was prodigy Conor Bedard.
The nation led 1-0 after six minutes through Bédard. A goal that caused the only 17-year-old striker to finish first in this summer’s draft, thus breaking a series of JVM records.
Bédard then scored the most goals ever in the JVM by a Canadian with 15 and the most points with 32.
Add that he then led the scoring league in this year’s tournament with 19 points, which is the record for a J18 player in the JVM tournament. Jaromir Jagr achieved the previous record with 18 points.
He himself was not particularly interested in talking about records.
– I didn’t think of any record at all. We have a tough game here to focus on,” Bedard told TSN after halftime against Slovakia.
But Bedard is not done yet. He added another 1 + 1 to his tally. First, he played to 2-0, as did Shane Wright on the power play.
Bédard’s 13 assists at the tournament, and thus he holds the Canadian record there as well.
Slovakia fell short, but Canada increased to 3-1.
But Slovakia didn’t give up, both trimmed and fair. Conor Bedard had two great chances in the closing minutes to push Canada into the semi-finals, but the game went to overtime.
Bedard did not give up and in extra time decided the match after an incomparable solo performance.
The junior crown meets the Czech Republic on Wednesday at 20:38 Swedish time. Canada and the United States play the semi-finals at 00.38 Swedish time.