Saskatchewan Junior Female Hockey League returns for a second season
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The SJFHL has six teams across the province, with 125 players aged 18 to 22.
Edmonton’s Dylan Guenther earned his place in Canadian hockey lore Thursday.
Guenther scored at 6:22 of overtime to lift Canada to a 3-2 victory over Czechia in the gold-medal game of the 2023 world junior hockey championship in Halifax.
THE GOLDEN GOAL BY DYLAN GUENTHER! 🥇#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/VbbZQfTOV4
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 6, 2023
Canada won its second straight title and its 20th in the history of the tournament. Canada became the first team to win back-to-back titles since its five-year winning streak ended in 2009.
Czechia was seeking its first championship since 2001. The silver is Czechia’s first medal since it won bronze in 2005.
In Thursday’s final, Guenther opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 12:41 of the first period. It was Guenther’s sixth goal of the tournament, all of which he scored during a man advantage.
Canadian captain Shane Wright made it 2-0 at 4:35 of the second period, whipping a backhand past Czech goalie Tomas Suchanek.
The goal came after Suchanek had stopped shorthanded breakaways by Caedan Bankier and Zack Ostapchuk and another breakaway by Logan Stankoven, all in the opening four minutes of the period.
The Czechs got on the board at 12:30 of the third period when Jiri Kulich banged a loose puck past Canadian goalie Thomas Milic.
Just 54 seconds later, a Jakub Kos deflection hit Canada defenceman Ethan Del Mastro and trickled past Milic to tie the game.
The teams went end to end during the three-on-three overtime period before Guenther and Joshua Roy broke in two on one. Roy slid a goalmouth pass across to Guenther, who put the puck over Suchanek’s left pad for the winner.
The victory was Canada’s sixth in a row at the tournament after it lost 5-2 to Czechia on Boxing Day in the opening game for both teams.
Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard didn’t figure in the scoring Thursday, but the 17-year-old still led the tournament with nine goals and 23 points.
He was the first player in 30 years to record more than 20 points in a single event, and passed Jaromir Jagr for most points registered at the tournament by a player aged 18 or under.
Bedard, the projected top pick in the 2023 NHL draft, finished the tournament as Canada’s all-time leader in world junior play in goals and points.
He was named the tournament’s most valuable player, its best forward and an all-star.