Jet Greaves Guides Canada Past Czechia Prep as Odds Favor Hosts — Canada Vs Czechia
Canada vs Czechia arrives with Canada already locked into first place in Group B and listed as a -500 favorite for Tuesday’s final preliminary-round game at the 2026 IIHF World Championship. Puck drop is set for 2:20 p.m. ET, and the result will sort out quarterfinal paths for both teams.
Jet Greaves Leads Canada
Jet Greaves has given Canada a strong base in net, going 4-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and a.931 save percentage. That’s the backbone behind a team that stayed perfect by beating Slovakia 5-1 on Sunday.
Canada was tied 1-1 heading into the third period against Slovakia, then scored four times in the final frame. Macklin Celerbrini finished that win and sits tied for fifth in tournament scoring with 9 points on 3 goals and 6 assists.
Czechia Stumbles Into Third
Czechia dropped 4-1 to Norway on Monday, falling to third in the group after being outshot 27-18 and trailing 2-0 less than 10 minutes in. It also went 0-for-3 on the power play, leaving it with 2 power play goals on 14 chances and a 14.3 per cent clip in the tournament.
That loss tightened the pressure on a roster built differently from Canada’s. Vancouver Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek is the only NHL regular on Czechia’s roster, while Roman Cervenka, the 40-year-old captain, leads a group that includes 14 players from the Czech Extraliga and 20 who played somewhere in Europe this season.
Group B and Quarterfinal Paths
Canada’s win over Slovakia sealed Group B first place before this matchup even arrived. As the group winner, it will play the fourth-place team in Group A, where Latvia currently sits but Austria, Germany and the United States can still finish there.
Czechia’s path is less settled. It has the same number of points as Norway but does not hold the tiebreaker, and it can still finish anywhere from second to fourth in Group B. A second-place finish would keep it away from currently undefeated Switzerland and Finland in the quarterfinals, while Canada remains at +100 to win gold and Czechia is listed at +1500 after winning gold last in 2024.
