Czechia's Vojtech Cihar high-fives his teammates after drawing first blood in a 7-2 shellacking of Denmark at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / TIM AUSTEN
Defenceman Tomas Galvas sparked the attack with a goal and two assists as Czechia downed newly promoted Denmark 7-2 on Saturday night. It was the first Czech win of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, while the Danes remain pointless through two games, outscored 13-4 in total.
"It was a fun game and we played well," said Galvas, who was named Czechia's Player of the Game. "We had a good forecheck tonight and generated a lot of shots."
For the Czechs, this was a dominant two-way effort on balance, exploiting Denmark's penalty problems. Coach Patrik Augusta's boys rebounded nicely after a wild 7-5 loss on Day One to Canada, whom they eliminated in both the 2024 and 2025 quarter-finals.
Czechia scored three power-play goals and outshot Denmark 52-22.
The teams traded early goals. At 2:56, Vojtech Cihar opened the scoring for Czechia, getting in front to deflect in a Galvas shot from the side boards.
Less than three minutes later, Denmark’s Tristan Petersen knotted the score. A puck deflected in front to the Penticton Vees forward off Emil Jakobsen’s skate at the side of the net, and he made no mistake.
The Czechs got a big opportunity after Danish blueliner Jesper Olesen received a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking to the head. They cashed in on the rush when Matej Kubiesa sniped the 2-1 goal high past Danish goalie Anton Wilde’s blocker at 11:57.
Petersen stayed positive despite his team's sin bin woes: "We talk a lot about the small details and discipline off the ice and on the ice, and I think we were doing pretty good today. We just took some unfortunate bounces and some pretty bad hits. But you know, it's the game. We just try our best to kill it. We're a team. We stand together."
Just after that major expired, Andrew Christian Bjergstad, who served the penalty, jumped out of the box and was sprung on a breakaway. However, his deke petered out at Czech goalie Matyas Marik’s left post. Then Oliver Larsen’s long shot hit the post on a late-period Danish power play. The breaks weren't going Denmark's way.
In the second period, Vaclav Nestrasil potted the third Czech goal on the power play at 1:45, whipping the puck through Wilde from the left faceoff circle and celebrating with a little sabre-twirling. The NCAA rookie (UMass Amherst) is the younger brother of former NHLer Andrej Nestrasil.
Asked about the importance of generating goals with the man advantage, Nestrasil said: "Definitely important. It was a lot of special teams stuff today. I'm glad I got that [PP goal], and then we got a few others as well."
The Danes replied at 4:39. Off a Lasse Baerentsen faceoff win in the Czech end, Larsen snared the puck and zinged it past Marik.
Czechia went up 4-2 at 11:20. Top 2026 NHL draft prospect Adam Novotny navigated into the slot through Danish checkers and flung a shot on goal, and Adam Jiricek, at net front, converted the rebound.
Jiri Klima did the spade work on the forecheck on the 5-2 Czech marker. He dug the puck out and sent a cross-ice pass to an unattended Stepan Hoch, who went top cheese at 15:01.
In the third period, Galvas made it 6-2 with a power play snipe at 5:41, and Richard Zemlicka scored on a 2-on-1 58 seconds later.
Petersen praised the resilience of Wilde, a 17-year-old who plays for Frederikshavn: "He's a young goalie, but wow! He's got a great, great talent, and we've just gotta keep helping him, like he helped us today. It could have easily been 10-2, but he stood his ground."
Both teams get a day off on Sunday. On Monday, it's tough matchups as the Czechs take on the Finns, while Denmark faces Canada.
"Finland will be a very hard game," Galvas said. "They have a lot of skilled players and some great skaters. We're going to have to improve on our performance tonight. Get some rest, and then keep on shooting the puck."
The Czechs are aiming to keep their World Junior medal streak alive. They won silver in 2023 and bronze each of the last two years.
In six all-time World Junior meetings, Czechia has only lost to Denmark once: a 3-2 overtime decision on 29 December, 2016 in Montreal. Martin Necas and Filip Hronek gave Czechia leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Mathias From scored the OT winner at 0:47.
"It was a fun game and we played well," said Galvas, who was named Czechia's Player of the Game. "We had a good forecheck tonight and generated a lot of shots."
For the Czechs, this was a dominant two-way effort on balance, exploiting Denmark's penalty problems. Coach Patrik Augusta's boys rebounded nicely after a wild 7-5 loss on Day One to Canada, whom they eliminated in both the 2024 and 2025 quarter-finals.
Czechia scored three power-play goals and outshot Denmark 52-22.
The teams traded early goals. At 2:56, Vojtech Cihar opened the scoring for Czechia, getting in front to deflect in a Galvas shot from the side boards.
Less than three minutes later, Denmark’s Tristan Petersen knotted the score. A puck deflected in front to the Penticton Vees forward off Emil Jakobsen’s skate at the side of the net, and he made no mistake.
The Czechs got a big opportunity after Danish blueliner Jesper Olesen received a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking to the head. They cashed in on the rush when Matej Kubiesa sniped the 2-1 goal high past Danish goalie Anton Wilde’s blocker at 11:57.
Petersen stayed positive despite his team's sin bin woes: "We talk a lot about the small details and discipline off the ice and on the ice, and I think we were doing pretty good today. We just took some unfortunate bounces and some pretty bad hits. But you know, it's the game. We just try our best to kill it. We're a team. We stand together."
Just after that major expired, Andrew Christian Bjergstad, who served the penalty, jumped out of the box and was sprung on a breakaway. However, his deke petered out at Czech goalie Matyas Marik’s left post. Then Oliver Larsen’s long shot hit the post on a late-period Danish power play. The breaks weren't going Denmark's way.
In the second period, Vaclav Nestrasil potted the third Czech goal on the power play at 1:45, whipping the puck through Wilde from the left faceoff circle and celebrating with a little sabre-twirling. The NCAA rookie (UMass Amherst) is the younger brother of former NHLer Andrej Nestrasil.
Asked about the importance of generating goals with the man advantage, Nestrasil said: "Definitely important. It was a lot of special teams stuff today. I'm glad I got that [PP goal], and then we got a few others as well."
The Danes replied at 4:39. Off a Lasse Baerentsen faceoff win in the Czech end, Larsen snared the puck and zinged it past Marik.
Czechia went up 4-2 at 11:20. Top 2026 NHL draft prospect Adam Novotny navigated into the slot through Danish checkers and flung a shot on goal, and Adam Jiricek, at net front, converted the rebound.
Jiri Klima did the spade work on the forecheck on the 5-2 Czech marker. He dug the puck out and sent a cross-ice pass to an unattended Stepan Hoch, who went top cheese at 15:01.
In the third period, Galvas made it 6-2 with a power play snipe at 5:41, and Richard Zemlicka scored on a 2-on-1 58 seconds later.
Petersen praised the resilience of Wilde, a 17-year-old who plays for Frederikshavn: "He's a young goalie, but wow! He's got a great, great talent, and we've just gotta keep helping him, like he helped us today. It could have easily been 10-2, but he stood his ground."
Both teams get a day off on Sunday. On Monday, it's tough matchups as the Czechs take on the Finns, while Denmark faces Canada.
"Finland will be a very hard game," Galvas said. "They have a lot of skilled players and some great skaters. We're going to have to improve on our performance tonight. Get some rest, and then keep on shooting the puck."
The Czechs are aiming to keep their World Junior medal streak alive. They won silver in 2023 and bronze each of the last two years.
In six all-time World Junior meetings, Czechia has only lost to Denmark once: a 3-2 overtime decision on 29 December, 2016 in Montreal. Martin Necas and Filip Hronek gave Czechia leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Mathias From scored the OT winner at 0:47.
Denmark vs Czechia - 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship
OF