Canada secured Hlinka Gretzky gold for a record 25th time, with a 2-1 win over Czechia at Rogers Place Saturday night.

It’s now back-to-back years that the Canadians have beaten the Czechs in the gold medal game. Czechia had their chances throughout, including a couple of posts, but didn’t have the skill to match Canada for 60 minutes.

The deadlock was broken 6:19 into the opening period. A great effort from Brady Martin, who’s been fantastic all week, found Liam Kilfoil on the back door to make it 1-0. There was a quick review to determine if Ondrej Stebetak, the Czech goalie, was interfered with, but the goal stood.

As the announcer told the crowd there was a minute to play in the opening period, Cameron Schmidt burst down the wing and centred the puck finding Caleb Desnoyers. Desnoyers hadn’t found the back of the net in the tournament until then but played a pivotal role in other areas for Canada.

Czechia scored with less than ten seconds to play but it was too little too late. Canada’s control of the game for the previous 59 minutes and 50 seconds was enough to help them capture another gold.

Jack Ivankovic capped off a fantastic with an 18-save performance for the Canadians. Throughout the competition, he showed up in big moments for Canada giving the offence more time to find their groove. That continued again tonight.

Czechia forward Adam Benák extended his lead at the top of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup all-time scorers list. He sits ahead of everyone with 21 points. Benák is a projected first-round pick who’ll be going to play in the USHL for the Youngstown Phantoms this season.

Overall, Canada came into the week expecting to win gold and that’s what they accomplished. Gavin McKenna had a good week but wasn’t at his best. Ultimately that didn’t matter because Matthew Schaefer, Cameron Schmidt and Jackson Smith all played exceptionally to help guide Canada to another gold medal.