Canada blanks Czech Republic, sets up semifinal against Russia at world juniors
Rematch of last year's gold medal final set for Monday in Edmonton 'bubble'
Quarter-finals in international hockey tournaments are tense affairs. A win means playing for a medal and a loss means not.
"I'm just taking every moment and savouring it because I know this is my last world juniors," Levi said. "I'm going to be able to look back on this for the rest of my life.
"I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can and I think that really takes the pressure off."
Canada takes on Russia and the United States faces Finland in Monday's semifinals. The gold and bronze-medal games are Tuesday
WATCH | Canada moves on to semis at world juniors:
Dylan Cozens had a goal and an assist Saturday against a tenacious Czech side.
Connor McMichael scored into an empty net and defenceman Bowen Byram also scored at Rogers Place.
Russia edged Germany 2-1, Finland downed Sweden 3-2 and the U.S. defeated Slovakia 5-2 in Saturday's other quarter-finals.
WATCH | Finland's late winner over Sweden:
The gold and bronze-medal games are Tuesday.
Canada was the lone team to go undefeated in the preliminary round at 4-0 to top Pool A. The Czech Republic (2-2) ranked fourth in Pool B.
Nick Malik, who spend part of last season with the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, stopped 22 shots in the loss.
Canada led 2-0 after the opening period on goals from co-captains Cozens and Byram.
WATCH | Sweden's Soderblom shoots and scores between-his-legs again:
The defending champions didn't dominate puck possession like they did in a 4-1 win over Finland to cap the round robin, however.
The Czechs battled hard along the boards for the puck to make Canada chase them, blocked shots and often clogged the neutral zone to force the Canadians to dump and chase.
"It's a plus for me the way the Czechs play us, the way we played and the way we had to dig in and figure it out," Canadian head coach Andre Tourigny said. "I think that's a good thing."
WATCH | Russia advances to world junior semis:
Canada was outshot for the first time in the tournament and really leaned on the 19-year-old Levi from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que.
Facing a dozen shots in the opening period Saturday was the most rubber he'd faced in a single period.
"It was super fun," Levi said. "To be busy in the first period really keeps you in the game.
"The past games, it was a bit harder to stay focused. I found in this game it was easy to have fun and just go out and play for sure."
Top defensive pairing contain Czechs
Tourigny gave a lot of minutes to the top defensive pairing Byram and Jamie Drysdale — almost 25 and over 23 respectively — to contain the Czechs and shrink their chances of a comeback.
Czech coach Karel Mlejnek pulled Malik for an extra attacker with five and a half minutes to play in regulation, but McMichael scored into an empty net at 17:11.
WATCH | U.S. set up world junior semifinal matchup with Finland:
"The game was influenced by the first period where we allowed two quick goals, which obviously put us on a back foot," Mlejnek said. "We kept fighting. We were trying to keep it as close as possible.
With a hard-working backcheck, Canada's Peyton Krebs prevented an odd-man Czech chance off a turnover late in a scoreless second period.
"I think he was one of our best players if not our best forward," Tourigny said.
Neither team scored on its one power-play chance but seconds after Adam Raska's interference penalty expired, Byram squeezed a shot under Malik's right armpit at 11:39 of the first period.
Canada's Cozens leads the way
Cozens scored Canada's first goal for the second time in as many games.
Byram and Cozens are alternating the captaincy in the absence of injured Kirby Dach. Cozens has a team-leading seven goals and six assists in five games.
With 22 combined points from both the 2020 and 2021 world junior tournaments, Cozens ranks sixth all-time for Canada ahead of John Tavares (20) and behind Jason Allison (24).
Canada was minus forward Alex Newhook, who injured his shoulder in the Finland game.
