SAINT PAUL \u2014 Porter Martone crossed the red line and bumped an opponent with his shoulder.<\/p>\n
The Canadian captain was joined by defencemen Zayne Parekh and Kashawn Aitcheson in some Boxing Day dark arts ahead of their opener against Czechia at the world junior hockey championship.<\/p>\n
The sport\u2019s powerhouse went on to pick up a 7-5 victory against the country that ended its dreams in the quarterfinals the last two tournaments, but then failed to shake hands after its flag was raised and the anthem played.<\/p>\n
Czechia wasn\u2019t happy in the moment. Martone, who also took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in regulation for tapping forward Adam Novotny\u2019s backside and faced a disciplinary committee for the warm-up antics, later apologized for his actions. <\/p>\n
Hockey Canada issued a mea culpa of its own for the post-game snub.<\/p>\n
The countries have plenty of recent history at the men\u2019s under-20 showcase. The latest chapter is set for Sunday\u2019s semifinal showdown after Canada thumped Slovakia 7-1 and Czechia got past Switzerland 6-2 at the first medal-round hurdle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to give our hearts and we\u2019re going to play to the best of our ability,\u201d Martone said following Saturday\u2019s optional practice at Grand Casino Arena. \u201cI know every guy in that room is going to be blood, sweat and tears to the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old is one of six returnees who felt the sting of defeat in Ottawa after falling to the Czechs in the quarters some 12 months ago \u2014 a result that hurt even more following the program\u2019s near-identical result in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there\u2019s going to be four million Canadians watching back home,\u201d Martone added. \u201cThat\u2019s always a spark for us. We\u2019re excited and we\u2019re ready to go.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fellow returnee Cole Beaudoin took a major penalty and received a game misconduct for kneeing early in last year\u2019s loss to the Czechs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think about it,\u201d said the centre. \u201c(But) it\u2019s (a) new group, new team \u2026 the past is what it is. We\u2019re going to have it in the back of our mind, use this fuel to go into that game and play with energy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Canadian forward Gavin McKenna \u2014 projected as one of the top picks at the 2026 NHL draft \u2014 said his team will need to channel its emotions after the Dec. 26 encounter with Czechia that featured those chippy moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust how fired up we were, knowing we let the country down twice losing to those guys,\u201d he said of what stood out that night. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to do that again. We\u2019re fired up here, and hopefully we have that same mentality.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Czechs have largely moved on from any perceived disrespect from Canada, but captain Petr Sikora said \u201cof course\u201d there\u2019s motivation after what transpired.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of (scrums) and talking,\u201d added defenceman Radim Mrtka, who was injured for the opener, but watched from the stands. \u201cIt\u2019s actually good for us, just get some emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada could breathe a sigh of relief after getting through an elimination game for the first time since winning gold in 2023 in Halifax \u2014 an overtime victory against the Czechs \u2014 but general manager Alan Millar didn\u2019t see it that way following two years of heavy criticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to win a world championship,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about getting past the quarterfinals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada will need to make sure to not cross any lines against the Czechs \u2014 including the one at centre ice in warm-ups.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh-stake games, your emotions get up,\u201d Martone said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be emotional at times and not take those bad penalties. Play with emotion, play with all the heart you have. <\/p>\n
\u201cGive your all, but just be disciplined.\u201d <\/p>\n
CREASE COMMANDER<\/p>\n
Jack Ivankovic appears to have Canada\u2019s net the rest of the way after making 21 stops in the quarters, pushing his save percentage to .959 in two appearances.<\/p>\n
Carter George, the starter last year and again coming into this event, has a tournament-low .844 mark among qualifying goaltenders in his three victories as the Canadians finished with 11 of a possible 12 points in the preliminary round.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very calm back there,\u201d Martone said of Ivankovic. \u201cHe knows how to calm down the game, especially when the games get tense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cool-under-pressure Ivankovic \u2014 last year\u2019s backup in the nation\u2019s capital \u2014 said he doesn\u2019t get nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last few years have definitely helped this rivalry,\u201d he said of the Czechs. \u201cWe\u2019re ready to turn the page. It\u2019s our game.\u201d<\/p>\n
POINTS FROM THE POINT<\/p>\n
Parekh, who was not made available to the media Sunday, leads the entire tournament with 10 points from the back end.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a character,\u201d Millar said. \u201cHe brings that character on and off the ice. He\u2019s been very good for us in terms of his offensive output. He\u2019s defended better than some people give him credit for.<\/p>\n
\u201cPower play has been very good, and he\u2019s a game-changer. His skill set is dynamic.\u201d <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAINT PAUL \u2014 Porter Martone crossed the red line and bumped an opponent with his shoulder. The Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,82,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-386847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}