The Portland prospect made 18 saves en route to a major victory against Team Sweden.
After more than 365 days, Team Czechia will once have the chance to capture gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup after taking home silver in 2023 against Team Canada.
Instrumental in the Friday afternoon victory were two up-and-coming WHL talents in Ondrej Stebetak and Vit Zahejsky, for the Portland Winterhawks and Kamloops Blazers, respectively. While the much less busy of the two goaltenders, Stebetak was very solid positionally and gave his team a chance to win at every turn.
After going down 1-0 to a first period Viktor Klingsell goal, Zahejsky got himself involved on the power play, assisting an Adam Benak goal to get Czechia on the board. Tomas Malinek put them in the lead, and Benak returned the favor to Zahejsky a few minutes later with a picture perfect pass to give the Czechs a two goal cushion.
With Sweden pushing late, Zahejsky put the game on ice with an empty net goal and his second of the game, keeping him in fifth place among point getters so far in the tournament. Czechia would add one more empty net goal, Calgary Hitmen forward Robin Svancara picking up an assist, and skate away with a 5-1 victory to advance to the gold medal game on Saturday.
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