IIHF – Czechs blow out Kazakhstan

With a 14-2 triumph over Kazakhstan on Saturday, the Czechs stayed in the hunt for first place in Group B. Like perfect Sweden, Czechia has six points in two games at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Amazingly, three different Czech forwards had hat tricks: assistant captains Matej Mastalirsky and Vojtech Hradec, as well as Jakub Stancl. Hradec and Stancl added two assists apiece for five-point games.

Coach Patrik Augusta’s troops outshot the defensively porous Kazakhs 36-18 for a remarkable (if unsustainable) 38.8 shooting percentage. The Czechs are firing on all cylinders ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Slovakia. Kazakhstan faces the Slovaks on Monday.

Of taking on Slovakia, Czech captain Eduard Sale said: “It’s our rivals. It’ll be fun to play, and it will be a tough game. A couple of times we have lost to Slovakia, so we want to punch back.”

This was the most goals Czechia has ever scored against Kazakhstan, eclipsing the old mark set right here in Ottawa in a 10-2 win at the 2009 World Juniors. The Canadian capital has been hard on the Kazakhs, whose most lopsided World Junior loss ever was 15-0 to the host nation exactly 16 years ago (28 December, 2008).

“It’s probably one of our worst games we have played,” said Kazakh captain Aslan Zhussupbekov. “I just want to apologize in front of our fans and the people who supported us. We just can’t do that. We can’t play like that.”

Top Czech goalie Michael Hrabal got a break as backup Jan Kavan made his World Junior debut. Kazakh starter Vladimir Nikitin returned for the second straight game. Unusually, he would be yanked in the first period, but go back in during the second period.

Latvia’s jaw-dropping 3-2 shootout win over host Canada has put the fear of God into every medal contender at these World Juniors. Taking it easy on a lower-ranked opponent is playing with fire. The Czechs clearly absorbed that lesson.

“It’s a tournament where anything can happen,” said Hradec. “You must be 100 percent focused. We’re happy for the win.”

Facing off against Czechia at 13:00, the newly promoted Kazakhs had less than 24 hours to recover after losing 8-1 to Sweden in their opener, a 17:00 start.

The Czechs took command when they struck for two goals in just six seconds. Out of a scramble, Mastalirsky snared a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and put it in off the iron at 5:45. And off the ensuing faceoff, Stancl got the puck across to Petr Sikora on the rush and he made no mistake.

“We scored those two goals, and after that, it was our game,” Sale said.

At 11:01, Jakub Dvorak made it 3-0 Czechia off a faceoff in the Kazakh zone, going high to the blocker side. Looking to switch up the momentum, Kazakh coach Sergei Starygin pulled Nikitin out in favour of backup Jokhar Dudarkiyev shortly afterwards.

Little changed. Hradec beat Dudarkiyev, deflecting in Vojtech Port’s shot, at 14:45 for a four-goal Czech lead. Kirill Lyapunov finally got Kazakhstan on the board with a power-play marker at 18:24, but no comeback was brewing.

At 2:54 of the second period, Adam Jecho scored one of the easiest “keep your stick on the ice” goals you’ll ever see, standing at the crease to convert Port’s perfect cross-ice feed. That was the first of four second-period Czech goals in less than five minutes, as Mastalirsky completed his hat trick, along with a Stancl tally. The Kazakhs were virtually spectators at this point.

“We just wanted to play the whole match the same way,” Mastalirsky said.

Sale made it 9-1 as he casually stickhandled through defender Mstislav Shipilin at 9:17. When Adam Novotny potted the tenth Czech goal 15 seconds later, Starygin called his timeout to remonstrate with his players. The effort picked up, but it was far too late. By the end of the middle frame, the Czechs led 12-1 on goals by Hradec and Vojtech Cihar.

In the third period, Kazakh assistant captain Alexander Kim went bar down at 1:29 to create a little positivity. The Czechs eased up and looked to stay healthy. Stancl and Hradec rounded out the scoring with under two minutes left.

The Czechs have raised expectations for themselves at the World Juniors. They endured a long medal drought after winning bronze in 2005, but returned to the podium with a surprising silver in 2023 and followed that up with bronze last year. So far this year, they’re certainly in the medal conversation again.