MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Moose Jaw Warriors prospect Dominik Pavlik will have a silver medal from Hlinka Gretzky Cup to his credit when he arrives in the Friendly City in a few weeks time.
Pavlik and his Czechia teammates dropped a 2-1 decision to Canada in the U18 summer world hockey championship gold medal game on Saturday night in Edmonton, giving Canada their third-straight Hlinka Gretzky title.
As the score would indicate, Czechia wasn’t that far off from victory either -- and with a few breaks, the gold medal could easily have ended up in their hands.
Czechia nearly opened scoring only 1:38 into the game when David Rozsival had a couple of cracks at the puck at the side of the net, but Canada goaltender Jack Ivanovic (OHL Brampton) would make a pad save to keep the game scoreless.
Five minutes later Canada was on the board.
Brady Martin (OHL Sault Ste. Marie) sent a pass cross-crease in front for LIam Kilfoil (QMJHL Halifax) and he’d make no mistake putting the puck into the open net for the 1-0 lead at 6:29 of the first.
Seconds later, Czechia came inches from getting on the board when an Adam Benak power play shot from the point redirected in front and went off the crossbar.
Canada then made it 2-0 as time ran down in the first, with Cameron Schmidt (WHL Vancouver) finding Caleb Desnoyers (QMJHL Moncton) in front of the net with a pass from the corner that Desnoyers slammed home through Ondrej Stebetak’s five-hole at 19:08.
The game turned into a goaltending duel from there, as both Stebatak and Ivankovic making big saves to keep the contest a two-goal game.
Pavlik hit the scoresheet with eight seconds remaining in the contest when he found Tomas Poletin in front of the net for a 6-on-4 power play goal, but Canada would win the ensuing faceoff and send the puck into the Czechia zone to finish things off.
Stebetak finished the game with 24 saves, while Ivanovic had 18 stops to earn the win.
Pavlik -- the Warriors first-round selection in the 2024 CHL Import Draft -- capped the tournament with a goal and three assists to finish fifth in team scoring.
