Adam Jiricek has morphed into the ultimate two-way threat at the 2026 World Junior Championship, leading Czechia's quest for gold.
During the 2024 World Junior Championship, Team Czechia was excited about the debut of an underage defenseman. As the younger brother of a top-ten NHL draft pick, expectations were high. Unfortunately, his debut was marred by a serious knee injury.
We’re talking about St. Louis Blues prospect, Adam Jiricek.
Jiricek was injured during his debut at the World Juniors two years ago. Scouts were ready to evaluate his game on the international stage as he entered his draft year. Despite the knee injury that knocked him out for the rest of the season, the Blues selected him 16th overall in the summer, and Jiricek is proving at these World Juniors that they made an excellent decision.
Jiricek won a bronze medal at last year’s World Juniors. Czechia deployed a balanced top-six defense corps. No defenseman on the roster averaged more than 20 minutes a night — Tomas Galvas led with 19:56 TOI. His countryman Jiricek had the second-highest at 18:52 TOI. Both players have returned in search of gold in Minnesota and are playing much bigger roles this year.
The St. Louis first-rounder has done it all for Czechia as they head into a semi-final matchup against Canada on Sunday, Jan. 4. While the Czechs lost their tournament-opener against the Canadians on Boxing Day, it was impossible not to notice Jiricek.
There’s no doubt that his skating and the fluidity with which he can transition from forward to backward and laterally are at a high-end level, and what draws a lot of people in, but he also displayed his fearlessness in playing an ultimate team game, blocking shots, and laying the body whenever he saw an opportunity. He logged 23:04 of ice time against Canada (most on the team), showing he can be Czechia’s go-to guy on the backend.
That fearlessness and reliability carried over into Czechia’s pivotal round-robin game against Finland. Seeing as Finland was undefeated and Czechia had lost to Canada, this was a must-win game for the Czechs. A loss would’ve had them face off against USA in the quarterfinals.
However, Jiricek didn’t allow that to happen, as he scored what is currently the goal of the tournament in overtime.
An absolutely incredible finish that would’ve sparked a Marek Malik smile, but it’s the all-around game that has Jiricek playing as one of the tournament’s best blueliners.
Once again, in a pivotal game, Jiricek logged the most ice time on his team with 25:28.
Czechia’s coaching staff has him out there on the power play, penalty kill, and going up against their opponents' top line every night. And he can handle it. His ability to close gaps quickly on defense by using his smooth-skating and leading with his stick shows a trait that will give him strength at the next level. Partnered with his high-level competitiveness, the Blues have a potential top-four defenseman on their hands.
After the quarterfinals, Adam Jiricek currently sits fourth in average ice time for the tournament (23:23). He actually trails his defense partner Jakub Fibigr by three seconds. The all-OHL defense pairing will be tasked on Sunday to neutralize one of Canada’s top two powerhouse lines.
Canada’s Zayne Parekh not only leads all defensemen in scoring in the tournament but all players. Jiricek’s teammate Tomas Galvas is second amongst defensemen in points and has been a magician offensively. Sweden’s Leo Sahlin Wallenius has also been terrific. But there hasn’t been a better two-way threat in the tournament than Adam Jiricek.
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