Blues At World Junior Championship 2026 (Dec. 29): Jiricek Scores Highlight-Reel, OT Winner For Czechia; Sweden Wins Again, Harenstam Gets Breather

Adam Jiricek’s season with Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League has been filled with plenty of personal and team success.

No matter what happens with his season in the OHL, the St. Louis Blues 2024 first-round pick in the NHL Draft’s moment at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship on Monday will go down as a lasting memory.

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Jiricek scored a between-the-legs overtime game-winner for Czechia, which rebounded from a late third-period goal surrendered and topped Finland 2-1.

The defenseman took a pass with his back to the goal from Petr Sykora and in one motion, spun and put the puck between his legs before raising his shot over the left shoulder of Finland goalie Petteri Rimpinen at 3:39 for the winner after Finland’s Emil hemming tied the game with 20 seconds left in regulation to ease and add much-needed relief for the Czechs after losing a lead late:

Jiricek led Czechia in ice time at 25:28 and was a plus-1 with three shots on goal.

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After opening with a loss to Canada (7-5), Czechia is in third place in Group B with five points (1-1-0-1) and next plays Latvia on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

As for Sweden, it was a relative easy 8-1 win against Germany on Monday to improve the Swedes to 3-0-0-0 (nine points) in Group A.

Blues goalie prospect, 2025 sixth-round pick Love Harenstam, who stopped 44 of 48 shots in Sweden’s first two games, was the backup to Herman Liv on Monday and got a day of rest.

Harenstam is projected to get the start for Sweden when it opposed the United States on Wednesday at 5 p.m. for the top seed from Group A.

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