Czech Cihar Says Canadian Media 'Trying To Throw Us Off And Trap Us With All Sorts Of Questions'

Vojtěch Čihář was expected to be one of Czechia’s offensive leaders in this World Junior Championship and he’s been that. His 11 points in six games leads the team and is tied with Canada’s Zayne Parekh and Colton Hage for the tournament lead. He also scored twice in Czechia’s 6-4 semifinal win over Canada.

Čihář, 18, was a member of the Czech team that beat Canada in last year’s quarterfinal in Ottawa. This year is now the third straight year where the Czechs eliminated the Canadians with a late goal in the World Juniors, but this was the first time they beat them in the semis.

“It's beautiful,” he told Czech media after the game. “As you said, this the first semifinal where we beat them, it’s all the better. At least we’re showing the nation that Czech hockey is on the rise and that the fans have something to look forward to in the future.”

The fact that these teams have met so frequently in recent World Junior tournaments over the past few years, starting with Canada’s overtime victory in the 2023 final in Halifax, combined with some bad blood over the past two years, has led to a lot of talk about a rivalry between the teams. Čihář was asked by a Czech journalist if he thought the rivalry was more something artificial drummed up by the media than any real bad blood between the players.

“I think so,” the Los Angeles Kings prospect said. “The guys and I were just saying that we did a lot of interviews for the Canadian media, and they kept trying to throw us off and trap us with all sorts of questions, just to cause some conflict between us and Canada. All we had to do was stay humble like we have been doing so far and show it on the ice, which we managed to do today.”

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With that game behind them, the Czechs now advance to the final for the first time since 2013 and will try to win the tournament for the first time since back-to-back wins in 2000 and 2001.

Looking ahead to the final against Sweden, he said, “We need to rest quickly.

We may have a light skate tomorrow, but we still need to agree with the coaches how it will be. In short, we need to prepare for Sweden as quickly as possible, because they’re just as fast a skating team as Canada.

“If we play the same way we did today, I believe we have a chance.”

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