Raiders goaltender and Czechia's Michal Orsulak #30 reaches for the puck during gold medal game action against Sweden at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship at Grand Casino Arena on January 5, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. (Photo by Micheline Veluvolu/IIHF)

By Nick Nielsen

2 Raiders win World Junior Silver

Orsulak, Man, Team Czechia comeback falls just short in World Juniors final

Jan 5, 2026 | 10:11 PM

It’s been a little over a month since Prince Albert Raiders goaltender Michal Orsulak and defenceman Matyas Man left the team to represent their country of Czechia in the IIHF World Juniors. The tournament started with a tough loss to the Canadians, but the two Raiders and total 11 Czechian WHLers come back with silver medals after Czechia lost 4-2 to Sweden in the gold medal final.

When the tournament began, Czechia was handed their only loss right away in a while 7-5 shootout against Canada. Matyas Man had an assist on Czechia’s second goal of the game early in the second period, and Michal Orsulak gave up six goals on 26 shots for a 0.760 save percentage.

After that, Orsulak was rested for the game the very next night against Denmark, and Czechia dominated Latvia 7-2. The Czechs had day three of the tournament off, but went back to work on day four against Finland. Orsulak made 22 saves on 23 shots for a 0.950 save percentage as Czechia took a hard fought 2-1 win in overtime.

The Czechs had a day off on day five, and on the sixth and final day of round robin play, Orsulak was rested again as Matyas Man earned his second assist of the tournament on the game winner, and Czechia earned a 4-2 win over Latvia to secure the second place spot in group B, behind Canada.

In the first round of the playoffs, was faced off against Team Switzerland. The Swiss had finished third in Group A with a two wins and two losses in regulation during the tournament.

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Czechia started slow against Switzerland and gave up a 2-1 lead before the first seven minutes of the second period, but Orsulak shut things down the rest of the way and dominated in a 6-2 win. Orsulak stopped 18 of 20 shots faced for a 0.900 save percentage.

Orsulak got the nod again in the semi final rematch against Canada. The Canadians finished preliminary rounds without a loss and had just come off a quarterfinal win over Slovakia 7-1.

Again it was a high scoring game, and Canada managed to tie the game at 4-4 with less than three minutes left in the game. Just over a minute later, Czechia scored their winner and added an empty netter, and Orsulak made some of his best saves of the tournament to post a 0.830 save percentage and help Czechia to their first gold medal final since losing to Canada in 2023.

On to the gold medal round, and Czechia was faced off against the number one seed coming out of Group A, the undefeated Team Sweden. The Swedes won all four games in round robin in regulation, then beat Latvia 6-3 in the quarterfinals, and their rival Finland 4-3 in overtime during the semifinal.

In the first period of the gold medal final, Orsulak had one puck get by him in the first five minutes of the game off a tip, but it hit the post and came out the other side. Later, about seven minutes left in the period, Man made a great block near the crease to keep the period tied at 0-0.

At the 14:45 mark, Sweden was shorthanded and Orsulak was forced to make a great diving save after Jack Berglund burned the defence, but Berglund found the rebound behind the net and centered it out the other side for Casper Juustovaara, and he hit the empty net as Orsulak tried to get back to the other side of the goal. Orsulak had to make two great consecutive saves before the final minute of the period, but it stayed a close 1-0 game for Sweden through the first period.

In the second period, a shot was blocked in front of the net, and both a Czech defenceman and a Swedish forward both whacked at the puck, it came to the side of the goal, and Victor Ecklund found the rebound before Orsulak could recover and gave the Swedes a 2-0 lead 9:21 in. Sweden continued their domination in the third period when Ivar Stenborg circled the top of the zone and set up a Sascha Boumedienne onetimer, and Sweden was up 3-0 before the five minute mark of the third.

The Czechs would pull Orsulak with over three minutes left, and the Czechs were able to work the puck to the left point for Adam Jiricek with 2:34 left in the game to get the Czechs on the board. With Orsulak on the bench, the Czechs dominated and with 23 seconds left another onetimer from the left point from Matej Kubiesa would find the back of the net to bring the Czechs within one.

Just after the 3-2 goal, the Czechs dumped the puck into the offensive zone, but the Swedes quickly cleared it back out as Orsulak returned to the bench. The Swedes hit the empty net to make it 4-2, and Orsulak and Man had earned silver medals for their country.

Man was held without a point during the gold medal final and finished with two assists and a +1 during the tournament. Orsulak stopped 31 of 34 shots during the gold medal final, good for a 0.910 save percentage.

For the Czechs, it marks the country’s seventh medal at the World Juniors, and just their second silver medal. They earned their first in a loss to Canada in 2023. It’s also their fourth straight year earning a medal.

Former Prince Albert Raider Matej Kubiesa earned player of the game for Czechia during the gold medal final. Since Kubiesa played wth the Raiders in 2023-24, Kubiesa has been playing in his home country.

Along with the Raiders Orsulak and Man, their were a total of ten WHLers in Team Czechia’s lineup.

• Prince Albert Raiders: Michal Orsulak and Matyas Man
• Edmonton Oil Kings: Max Curran
• Red Deer Rebels: Sam Drancak
• Kelowna Rockets: Tomas Poletin and Vojtech Cihar
• Vancouver Giants: Adam Titlbach
• Tri-City Americans: Jakub Vanecek
• Portland Winterhawks: Max Psenicka
• Seattle Thunderbirds: Radim Mrtka