Czechia 'played with our heart' in near upset of Canada at Olympics

MILAN -- Three minutes and 27 seconds. That's how close Team Czechia came to pulling off the upset of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

The Czechs lost to Team Canada 4-3 in overtime in the quarterfinals at Santagiulia Arena on Wednesday, but they had a 2-1 lead in the second period, a 3-2 lead late in the third, and a breakaway with the score tied 3-3 and about a minute left, giving the world's dominant hockey power a scare.

"This is probably the best team in history, so we know they're going to get their chances," forward Martin Necas said. "But we played with our heart. We played for our country, for our people that are watching and are here, and you could see it."

The Canadians have won the past four best-on-best tournaments, including gold medals at the past two Olympics involving NHL players: Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. With a roster full of NHL stars, they blew out the Czechs 5-0 six days ago.

After the preliminary round, Canada had a bye into the quarterfinals and the No. 1 seed, while Czechia had to play Team Denmark in the qualification playoffs as the No. 8 seed. While the Canadians rested Tuesday, the Czechs battled for a 3-2 win to advance to the quarters.

To come so close to defeating Canada on the second day of a back to back ...

"Very hard," defenseman Radko Gudas said. "I still thought we had parts of the game we were owning the puck. We were making some great plays. We made them defend. I don't think they had that this tournament here yet, so I'm really, really proud of the way everybody got ready for this game and the way they played, fearless, and the way they performed and just battled for each other.

"It tells something about this group that we were just relentless, and I thought we could have pulled it off."

Macklin Celebrini gave Canada a 1-0 lead 3:05 into the first, but Lukas Sedlak tied it 1-1 at 8:34 and then David Pastrnak one-timed a pass into the net on the power play at 14:49.

Czechia led 2-1, becoming the first country to take a lead against Team Canada in an Olympics with NHL players since Team USA in the round robin in 2010.

"There was no doubt in my mind that we had the confidence, and we had the group to upset this team," Gudas said, "and I thought for a big part of the game we were showing that."

Gudas hit Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby at 4:55 of the second, then he and Necas sandwiched Crosby at 5:08. Crosby left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return, creating more discomfort for the Canadians.

Nathan MacKinnon tied the game 2-2 on the power play at 12:16 of the second.

Then Ondrej Palat put the Czechs ahead 3-2 with 7:42 left in the third. Tomas Hertl blocked a shot by Canada defenseman Thomas Harley. Necas raced down the right wing with the puck on a 3-on-2. In the right circle, he dropped the puck to Palat, who fired the puck from the right hash marks past the glove of goalie Jordan Binnington.

Palat and his teammates mobbed each other on the ice. The Czech bench erupted in celebration.

Team Canada had won 13 consecutive games in Olympic tournaments involving NHL players, including seven in single elimination. Was the streak about to end?

No.

Nick Suzuki tied the game 3-3 with 3:27 to go in the third, reaching out to the right with his stick blade and deflecting a shot by Devon Toews. The puck dropped and slipped between the pads of goalie Lukas Dostal.

The Czechs still had a chance. Necas took off on a breakaway, but Binnington stopped him with his right pad with about 1:10 left.

"I was kind of tired, and they're chasing me," Necas said. "I tried to go backhand five hole and kind of missed the window there."

The game went to 3-on-3 overtime, and Mitch Marner ended it at 1:22 with a beautiful backhand.

Several Czechs buried their heads in their gloves on the bench.

"I mean, we were four minutes away from beating [an] unbelievable team and [going] further," Palat said. "We didn't. They scored, and then we couldn't hold onto the lead. Too bad, but I'm proud of the team, how we battled against a really good team."

So close.

"When we look back in a couple of days, I'm going to feel proud of the boys," Dostal said. "Even now, I feel very proud. It's a mix of emotions, because you feel sad but proud at the same time. Yeah, it hurts. It's probably going to hurt for a long time, but I'm proud of our group, what we did here."