BEMIDJI — It took only 16 seconds for Czechia to claim an overtime win over Latvia in the first of three World Junior Championship exhibition games at the Sanford Center.
Max Curran took a pass from Adam Jiříček and skated down the left half-wall. Curran shelved the puck just under the crossbar and just over the right shoulder of Latvian goaltender Mikus Vecvanags almost immediately after the puck dropped for the 3-on-3 overtime period on Friday night.
However, despite a narrow 3-2 win, Czechia head coach Patrik Augusta wanted more out of his group against Latvia.
“Every game is fun; it’s supposed to be fun,” Augusta said. “I didn’t think we started well. We tried (to do it) the easy way. That’s what I didn’t like from our team. We got better in the second period, but after getting up two goals, we went back to the easy game.”
Czechia scored twice in the second period and took a 2-1 lead to the second intermission, with goals from Matéj Kubiesa and Tomáš Poletín. Latvia got a goal from Alberts Šmits on the power play to cut the lead to 2-1.
Bruno Osmanis, who assisted on the power-play tally, leveled the score five and a half minutes into the third period before Curran won it in overtime.
“Latvia was in the game the whole time,” Augusta said. “They were willing to pay the price and win the battles, and that’s the one thing we have to work on and get better at for the next games. We weren’t ready to do whatever it takes to win the game. We thought it was going to be easy for us.”
Both teams will play one more exhibition game against Slovakia before heading to the Twin Cities for the start of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championships. Latvia will play Slovakia on Sunday, while Czechia rounds out the exhibitions against Slovakia on Monday. Both games start at 7 p.m.
Here are the Pioneer’s takeaways from Czechia’s 3-2 win over Latvia:
When Darels Uļjankis took a cross checking penalty five minutes into the second period, Vecvanags was tasked with making his most impressive save of the night.
The fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Montréal Canadiens (No. 134) was the victim of an unmarked Czech player on the back door. Vecvanags dove to the far post to make the save
“I think it was off the end of my stick,” he said. “I’ll have to check the replay on that one, but those feel good.”
Vecvanags finished the night with 27 saves on 30 shots. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound goalie out of the Newfoundland Regiment in the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League was named the third star of the game.
Latvia head coach Artis Ābols praised Vecvanags and noted how vital he will be when the tournament begins on Dec. 26, saying Latvia needs him to be at the top of his game.
It’s an enticing spot for Vecvanags to be in.
TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer
“I don’t feel pressure,” he said. “I just go out there and try to stay in the moment, try to have fun and compete my (butt) off.”
Vecvanags made 17 saves in the second period alone. He also helped Latvia kill off three power plays.
“Of course,” Ǎbols said on Vecvanags’ ability to backstop the Latvian penalty kill, “but the best penalty kill is to stay out of the penalty box.”
Augusta also gave credit to Vecvanags, but wanted his players to make his job harder.
“It’s always tough because everybody has good goalies,” Augusta said. “We didn’t have screens. We didn’t put too many shots on the net. We should be more hungry to get scoring chances than we were. We were looking for some special plays and pretty plays.
“When you have a goalie like that and a team that’s really compact and playing hard against you, you’re not going to beat them with a fancy little play, taking the easy way out. We have to outwork them, and we didn’t tonight.”
Czechia’s active defensemen
From the jump, Czechia’s standout defensive group showed no hesitation jumping up into plays offensively, nor should they.
It’s a unit that has first-round picks Radm Mrtka (Buffalo Sabres, No. 9) and Adam Jiříček (St. Louis Blues, No. 16), brother of Minnesota Wild defenseman David Jiříček. Vashek Blanár (Boston Bruins, No. 100) and Max Psenicka (Utah Mammoth, No. 46) are also drafted, and Jakub Vanacek is projected to be a first-round pick in 2026.
It was most evident on Czechia’s second goal. As a Latvian penalty expired, Uļjankis exited the penalty box hoping to get spurred on a breakaway. Jiříček recovered and halted the half-ice pass, then led a rush into the offensive zone and picked up the primary assist on Poletín’s goal.
Jiříček had two assists in his first exhibition game and was one of many Czechia defenders eager to activate offensively. Though Augusta might argue they do it too much.
“We need to smooth it out,” Augusta said. “We need to know when to jump. You cannot jump all the time. You have to know the score. You have to know the situation. Those are the things we work on.”
Smits is Latvia’s power-play QB, and should be
While stats as to who attempted which shots were not available for Friday’s exhibition, the Pioneer counted nine attempts for the Latvian defender in the second period alone.
Smits’ push for offense was aided by a pair of Czech penalties in the back half of the third period. Smits scored Latvia’s first goal on a one-time shot from just inside the blue line seven seconds into the man-advantage.
Smits is draft eligible for 2026 and is projected to be a first-round pick. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound 18-year-old was dubbed as “one of our top prospects” by Ǎbols, and Vecvanags agrees.
“He loves to shoot it,” Vecvanags said. “I saw it for the first time this morning when we practiced PK and power play. It’s a big shot.”
Petr Sikora’s experience pays dividends
After a goalless first period, Sikora found Matej Kubiesa with a 2-on-1 pass for the game’s first goal 48 seconds into the middle period.
Sikora and Kubiesa made up two-thirds of the Czechian top line on Friday night, with Vojtech Cihar. The scoring duo plays for HC Oceláři Třinec in Czechia.
While Kubiesa is a WJC rookie, Sikora is readying for his second go at a medal. The sixth-round pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2024 draft (No. 178) has four goals and three assists in seven tournament games last year.
“He was a captain for this game. He’s one of the three guys we are thinking about having a ‘C’ for the tournament,” Augusta said. “He’s a leader. He was with us last year and he’s been a big part of the team last year. We’re hoping that he can show the guys who weren’t here last year what it takes to be successful.”
TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer
Czechia mixed up its lines in the third period and paired Cihar and Sikora with Adam Novotny. Still, Sikora was noticeable on both ends of the ice, even in a period that left more to be desired for Augusta.
“He knows what his role is, on the ice and off the ice,” Augusta said. “He’s a leader. I hope the players who don’t have that experience from what we did last year follow his lead. It’s his responsibility to do that, and he knows it. You just hope it doesn’t tie him up too much and he goes and plays his game.”
While both Czechia and Latvia will almost certainly hit another gear when the tournament begins, Friday night’s exhibition was filled with a plethora of open-ice hits, board-crushing checks and, of course, penalties.
There were nine infractions in total, four called against Latvia and five against Czechia. There was a second-period scrum near the blue line after Jiříček delivered a heavy hit and was called for interference. Poletín and Klaucāns were both given roughing penalties.
“I didn’t like the penalties we took,” Augusta said. “I think they’re unnecessary and that’s not our thing. We have to work on that for the big tournament.”
Ǎbols noted that this was the fourth time Latvia and Czechia have played ahead of the tournament this year.
TJ Rhodes / Bemidji Pioneer
“We played three games against them before,” he said. “I don’t think about the Czechs — one game at a time — I think of how to prepare the team to push them to play the way I want. One game at a time.”
Poletín was on the receiving end of a heavy hit behind Czechia’s net in the second period and was slow to get up. He returned to score Czechia’s second goal.
“You cannot think about it. Injuries happen in the game,” Augusta said. “You can’t go into a game worrying about injuries. You’re definitely going to get hurt when you do something like this, and it’s a game you have to get prepared for. You have to be ready. You cannot play differently in these games and start differently against Canada. You can’t turn on the switch and think it’s going to be alright.”
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