Adela Sapovalivova played a crucial role in Czechia's historic win, their first in history, against Canada, earning their first ever appearance in the U-18 World Championships gold medal game.
Adela Sapovalivova played a crucial role in Czechia's historic win, their first in history, against Canada, earning their first ever appearance in the U-18 World Championships gold medal game.
Canada's roster at the IIHF U-18 World Championships may have been one of the most talented groups to don the uniform in a decade, but that didn't stop Czechia from earning a historic upset.
For the first time in IIHF history, Czechia beat Canada in women's hockey, earning a 4-2 victory.
As it was throughout the tournament, Adela Sapovalivova was central in the win opening the scoring for Czechia and adding an assist on the 2-0 goal as well.
After Canada came back with goals from Chloe Primerano and Stryker Zablocki, Czechia scored a dagger four minutes later with Klaudie Slavickova finding the net, followed by an empty net marker by Anezka Cabelova to close out the game.
"I'm so happy and so proud of our team," said Sapovalivova to the IIHF. "We put all our energy into the game and we won. We blocked many shots and we played with heart."
Sapovalivova's first period goal put her into the tournament lead in goals with eight. She sits second in points behind Canada's Chloe Primerano.
In net Aneta Senkova was spectacular for Czechia stopping 45 shots in the win.
The win sends Czechia to the gold medal game for the first time in tournament history. It was a similar result to Sweden's upset of USA last year.
Czechia's U-18 win however is a continued sign that the U-18 tournament removing tiered groups was the right decision, and also that Czechia has climbed into the conversation with Canada and USA. Czechia won back-to-back bronze medals at the World Championship and now will add silver or gold at the U-18 World Championships.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TYYE7DqZNo[/embed]