Czechia edged past Latvia to claim its first IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship medal since 2014 with a 4-1 victory in the bronze medal game.

Goals from Matej Tomanek and David Huk cancelled out Martins Klaucans’ opener for the Latvians in the first period. It remained a one-goal game until the closing seconds before Huk and Simon Katolicky added late empty netters to finish the job for the Czechs.

“It’s an amazing moment,” said two-goal hero Huk. “I can’t really describe how it feels. I think it’s like 12 years so Czechia’s last medal, so it’s amazing to win.”

Although Latvia was unable to win its first ever medal at this level, a fourth-place finish is the country’s best performance in U18 play. And the shock victory over the USA in the quarter-final will be remembered as one of the highlights of the tournament.

“I think the boys did really well, we were in it until the last seconds. I’m proud of my team,” said captain Davids Tarvids. “It feels like the puck didn’t go our way, we didn’t get the luck we wanted.”
 
Latvia made the better start to the game, with an early shift from the second line producing a couple of chances for Kristers Obuks. Klaucans was the architect of those opportunities, and he went on to put the Latvians on the scoreboard after 11 minutes. 

The move began with some lax play from the Czechs, enabling Klaucans to force a turnover in centre ice. From there, he drove into the danger zone and exchanged passes with Ricards Rutkis on the end boards before getting in front of a defender to chip the puck past Marek Sklenicka.

But that was the highlight for the outsider. “It’s devastating,” said goalscorer Klaucans. “We had a great run, but in the end that doesn’t matter. We have to get the medals, to go even higher.”

Czechia almost got a rapid response when Vojtech Hora’s point shot invited Josef Holesovsky to stuff it home, but Plumins got behind his effort.

Instead, it was an injection of energy from 16-year-old defender Matyas Michalek that created a tying goal. He hopped over the boards to join a spell of Czech pressure and darted down the right-hand channel to pick out Matej Tomanek in plenty of room in front of the net. Tomanek duly put away his third goal of the tournament.

And 40 seconds later, the Czechs were ahead. It took just seven seconds to convert the first power play of the game with a variation on a playbook move: a faceoff win sent the puck to the point, then on for Tomanek in the corner. His pass went to David Huk in front of the net and the centre made no mistake, giving Czechia a lead it carried to the intermission.

“We wanted to play down and behind the net but they new it so Matej just put it in for me and it went through,” Huk explained.

After that first-period goal flurry, the second was less dramatic. Latvia’s best opportunity went to Henrijs Upenieks, who produced an impressive solo rush only to be denied by Sklenicka.

At the other end, Czechia’s brightest moment came from Dominik Ripa, who almost stole a shorthanded goal late in the frame. He did well to get away from Adrians Klavins, but could not steer a shot past Plumins.

“It was a bit of a tight game,” Sklenicka said. “They didn’t have real good chances so I had to stay dialled, stay focussed. It wasn’t that tough for stopping pucks, but I had to keep that focus and concentration on the game.”

Early in the third, Huk was close to giving the Czechs some valuable breathing space. But when the puck dropped to him on the slot, Plumins’ outstretched pad robbed of a second marker in the game and kept Latvia within touching distance.

With time ticking down, Latvia pushed forward in search of a game-saving goal. Olivers Murnieks rang alarm bells in the Czech defence with some neat stick-handling before Sklenicka pushed a shot wide. And Upenieks might have tested the goalie had he looked for a one-timer before getting tangled up in Hora’s sprawling poke check.

With 1:37 on the clock, Tomanek was assessed a hooking minor. However, an embellishment call on Davids Tarvids cost Latvia a power play. Plumins went to the bench as soon as his team-mates secured possession, but the gamble did not pay off. Huk grabbed an empty-netter before Katolicky struck from his own zone to seal the Czech win and end that long wait for a U18 medal.

“We stuck together from the start this year. “We didn’t have a good year this year on the national team but we stuck together,” Huk concluded. “That’s what made the difference for us in the end.”