Stu Cowan: Former Canadien Tomas Plekanec earns gold medal as a coach

The three current Habs who took part in world championship — Kaiden Guhle, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky — return home empty-handed.

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Last year, Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault left the IIHF World Championship, held in Finland and Latvia, with a gold medal around his neck after playing for Team Canada.

This year, former Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanek left the world championship in Czechia with a gold medal as an assistant coach with Czechia.

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The Boston Bruins’ David Pastrnak scored the winning goal at 9:13 of the third period Sunday as Czechia beat Switzerland 2-0 to become only the fifth country to win the world championship on home ice. David Kampf added an empty-netter in the final minute in front of 17,413 fans who went wild at the O2 Arena in Prague.

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The victory kicked off a huge celebration throughout Czechia, including at the Old Town Square in Prague.

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Fans in Czechia will be thrilled for Plekanec, as will fans in Montreal.

Plekanec played in 11 world championships for Czechia, but never won a gold medal. He did win two silver and three bronze medals. The 41-year-old retired as a player last October because of an injury after playing nine games with Kladno in the Czech Extraliga, posting 1-3-4 totals.

Plekanec played 15 seasons with the Canadiens and ranks seventh on the list for career games with the club with 984, trailing only Henri Richard (1,258), Larry Robinson (1,202), Bob Gainey (1,160), Jean Béliveau (1,125), Claude Provost (1,005) and Andrei Markov (990).

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Montembeault took a pass on playing at this year’s world championship, saying he wanted to take some more time to rest his body and then have a full summer to work out in preparation for next season. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki also took a pass, instead getting engaged to longtime girlfriend Caitlin Fitzgerald at a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic. Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson also took a pass because his wife, Emily, was pregnant and she gave birth to the couple’s second child on May 17.

There were three Canadiens players who took part in this year’s world championship and they all came home empty-handed.

Team Canada, with Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle, lost 4-2 to Sweden in Sunday’s bronze-medal game. Guhle missed the game with TSN’s Gord Miller reporting the defenceman was injured while blocking a shot during Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Switzerland in the semifinals. Guhle finished the tournament with 1-4-5 totals and a plus-4 differential in nine games. Former Canadien Sven Andrighetto scored the shootout winner for Switzerland in the semifinals.

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Team USA, with Canadiens forward Cole Caufield, lost 1-0 to Czechia in the quarterfinals. Caufield finished the tournament with 4-4-8 totals in eight games.

Slovakia, with Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, lost 6-3 to Canada in the quarterfinals. Slafkovsky finished the tournament with 0-8-8 totals in eight games to finish second in team scoring behind Libor Hudacek (5-5-10).

“Maybe it’s distorted by the information that I didn’t score a goal, but we did other things,” Slafkovsky told Slovakian reporters. “It could have been better. Sure, it could have been better. Maybe I expected more from myself, but not every championship is as expected. The other boys did well, which I’m glad for, and when it was necessary, they made the decisions. In such a short tournament, it doesn’t matter who scores the goals.”

Slafkovsky played on the same line with former Canadien Tomas Tatar, who said the 20-year-old is the most popular player in Slovakia.

“He’s huge,” Tatar told Luc Gélinas of RDS, who was in Czechia to cover the tournament. “He has a great personality, which is awesome to see. He’s humble, he’s fun to be around.”

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Among those cheering on Slafkovsky in Czechia were his two grandmothers.

“They didn’t have a chance to come to Montreal yet,” Slafkovsky told Gélinas. “It’s great to see them here and hopefully they have a chance to come (soon) to Montreal.”

The 22-year-old Guhle is hoping his performance at the world championship might lead to him earning a spot with Team Canada for the 2026 Olympics as NHL players return to the Games for the first time since 2014.

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“Obviously, that’s in the back of my mind,” Guhle told Gélinas. “’26 would be pretty crazy I think for me. Olympics, it’s a dream. Ever since I was a kid watching the Olympics was something that I always dream of. Seeing Sidney Crosby score the golden goal in 2010 (in Vancouver), it’s still something that I think about and still have in my memory. Would definitely be a dream come true getting to play for the Olympics and play for Canada.”

The next major international competition for NHL players will be the Four Nations Cup, slated for Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston with teams from Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland. The tournament will replace the NHL all-star weekend, but it won’t include the two countries who played in the world championship final.

Pastrnak isn’t happy about that and after winning the world championship posted a photo on Instagram of himself in the Czechia locker room with a gold medal around his neck, the trophy in one hand and a beer in the other, writing: “Maybe Four Nation invite now?”

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