Jakub Stancl fired a hopeful shot with overtime looming.
Czechia had already given underwhelming Canada all it could handle in the countries' quarterfinal matchup at last year's world junior hockey championship.
The powerhouse nation trailed 2-0 after the first period before tying things up in the second. Canada was pushing throughout the third in another largely disappointing performance at a tournament riddled with uninspired play.
Then disaster struck in Sweden.
Stancl's effort glanced off Canadian defenceman Oliver Bonk's stick and the near post of goaltender Mathis Rousseau to give the Czechs a 3-2 lead with just 11.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
Red-clad fans inside Gothenburg's Scandinavium arena buried faces in hands. Bonk's shoulders sank. The 20-time gold medallists would finish an ugly and unacceptable fifth.
"It's not something that's your fault," Bonk said looking back on the sequence. "Or in your control."
The unfortunate 19-year-old blueliner from Ottawa is keen for redemption in his hometown at the 2025 event after receiving a torrent of online abuse following Canada's disastrous exit some 12 months ago.
"You put it behind you," said the son of Czech-born former NHLer Radek Bonk, one of five returnees on the current roster. "It's hockey and it happens. It motivates you more."
Bonk, whose dad played 10 seasons in the nation's capital with the Senators, was part of a 2024 group that never got in gear under the world junior spotlight. There were high draft picks, top prospects and star players.
For whatever reason, things didn't click.
"Tough to judge it when you're in it," he said. "We've got to be more prepared, more competitive. Thought last year that we were maybe thinking it's gonna be given to us and a bit easier than it actually would be.
"Not a good tournament from Canada."
Bonk, who scored in Saturday's 4-2 exhibition victory over Sweden, shook off the disappointment and used it as fuel with the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, finishing with 24 goals and 43 assists for 67 points in 60 games in 2023-24.
He added 16 points in 18 playoff contests before chipping in four goals and an assist at the Memorial Cup, where his team fell just short in the final.
"Learned a lot," Bonk said of last season. "Went through it all."
Knights associate general manager Rob Simpson said despite that on-ice heartache, the Philadelphia Flyers prospect is better for it.
"Those experiences are so valuable, whether you win or lose," he said. "You can always take things away."
Simpson added that while disappointed with what happened in Sweden, where Bonk made Canada's team as an underage player, his professional approach guided him through some difficult moments.
"A very level-headed young man," Simpson said. "I don't think he rides the highs too high and the lows too low. He just looked at the tournament and what he could have done better, and then he moved forward.
"Whether he's having a good game or bad game, he can self-assess and is very self-aware."
Canadian head coach Dave Cameron said the country will lean heavily on Bonk.
"He's a smart kid, he's a competitive kid," said the veteran bench boss, back in charge for a third time after capturing silver in 2011 and gold in 2022. "You know he's going to learn from (last tournament). We're expecting big things."
"Oliver's got some things to prove," added Hockey Canada's Peter Anholt, who leads the under-20 program.
Simpson said Bonk's ability at both ends of the rink comes down to time and space.
"Knows how to protect the puck by using his hips or how to put his body into a position where he can get out of trouble or separate a man," Simpson said. "Doesn't have to go in and do it with speed or brawn. It looks calm and patient. But it's really because he's thinking the game at a very high level.
"A lot of times it looks easy, but it's not an easy thing to do. Just really smart."
Bonk's dad suited up with the Senators between 1994 and 2004 鈥� prior to his son's birth in January 2005.
The family moved to Czechia after Radek's NHL career ended. He would play five seasons there before the Bonks put down roots in the nation's capital in 2014, following the former centre's retirement.
Oliver became a huge Senators fan, with an especially keen focus on then-Ottawa captain and defenceman Erik Karlsson.
The younger Bonk now has an opportunity to chase gold in the same building 鈥� and rewrite last year's wrong 鈥� when the hosts opens their tournament Thursday against Finland at the Canadian Tire Centre.
"A special experience," he said. "Something really, really rare. Gonna try and take advantage of it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2024.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
