Disastrous 2025 World Juniors leaves Canadian hockey fans furious at coach Cameron, refs, Team Canada’s discipline: ‘It’s over’

For the second straight year, Team Canada’s bid for gold at the World Juniors ended in disastrous fashion.

Adam Jecho, a St. Louis Blues prospect, scored the game-winner — fittingly on the power play — with just 40 seconds left in regulation to lift Czechia into the semis with a 4-3 win over Canada in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

It marked the second-consecutive time Canada was ousted in the quarters at the event by the Czechs.

From the very start of this tournament, the vibes around this team were pretty awful as some controversial roster omissions ahead of the event along with several more controversial moves throughout had coach Dave Cameron feeling the wrath of fans. Canada’s (lack of) discipline was also a massive issue from the first game onward, while officiating — as it often is — was a focal point for all the wrong reasons.

Maybe some of these other nations are just getting better, too?

Thursday’s quarter-final clash started off absolutely atrociously for Canada, with the Czechs grabbing a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the opening frame, as a sloppy turnover combined with a blown coverage left Petr Sikora all alone in front for an easy one.

Canada tied it up short-handed half-way through the period, but the Czechs regained the lead just two minutes later on that same powerplay, before Canada gave up a backbreaker with less than three second remaining in the frame. The Canadians clawed back, especially in the third period when they controlled the play and shot-share heavily before finally finding the equalizer with just over four minutes remaining in regulation.

In what was Canada’s downfall all tournament, another undisciplined penalty at the worst possible time gave Czechia a crucial powerplay before Jecho fired home the winner to send the home side packing in front of a stunned Ottawa crowd.

It was the first time in the history of the World Juniors that Canada failed to advance beyond the quarter-final in consecutive tournaments.

Czechia has had the edge over Canada the past couple years at this event, and they were not afraid to let everyone know it:

As is always the case when a Canadian hockey teams fails to meet expectations (win gold) at the junior or pro level, pundits and Canadian fans inside the arena and across social media were not to pleased with the squad’s early exit.

While much of the criticism was directed at the team’s performance, there was, of course, plenty directed towards the officials, too.

That aforementioned 5-minute major and ejection on Canada’s Cole Beaudoin was certainly a “iffy” call and a tough one to take for Canada, but regardless of what you think of the call there’s no way around the fact that Canada’s discipline — or lack thereof — throughout the tournament was its ultimate demise.

Following its defeat on Thursday, Canadians led the tournament in penalty minutes by a long shot.

During the quarterfinal contest versus Czechia, Canada took 15 minutes of penalties (a quarter of the game) and gave up two shorthanded goals — including Jecho’s game-winer in the dying seconds.

On top of the hefty amount of time Canada spent in the box (and likely in part because of it) the Canadians also couldn’t put the puck in the net, finishing with just 11 goals in five games while boasting the lowest shooting percentage in the tournament at a measly 6.34 per cent.

The home side’s special teams also let them down in a massive way, with the Canadians finishing their tournament ranked sixth in both power-play efficiency (74.1 per cent) and penalty-kill percentage (21.1 per cent).

A lack of discipline, no ability to find the right combination of players to create offence and score goals, and ineptness in all facets of the special teams often lies with the coaching staff, and bench boss Dave Cameron has been especially under fire for the job he did with some questionable decisions surrounding roster construction and day-to-day team management decisions.

Pressure and negativity was looming over Cameron and the staff even before Canada’s first game after the team chose to leave star defencemen Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk at home. It made some very strange moves up front as Beckett Sennecke and Michael Misa were also left off the roster — both could’ve helped Canada find the back of the net with more frequency at 5v5 and on the man advantage.

Cameron also took plenty of hit for this strange practice schedule, with Canada inexplicably not skating the day after ugly losses to both Latvia and the United States during the group stage.

Cameron’s explanation for the team’s lack of practices was an odd one, too.

“Because we were exhausted,” said Cameron. “There’s no system for tired hockey players.”

Canada’s head coach was the ire of frustrated Canadian fans following Thursday loss:

Not medalling was just one of several deep cuts suffered by the Canadian side during this year’s ugly showing, as the team was also buried in stunning fashion by 40-1 underdog Latvia earlier in the group stage before laying an egg in a loss to the rival United States side during the tournament’s flagship New Year’s Eve game.

Plenty of questions for everyone involved in this program after that one.