Canada defeated Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night in Halifax to claim gold in the World Junior Hockey Championship final.

• To read also: World Juniors: Bronze to the Americans

• Read also: First place in Group A: a first in 22 years for the Czechs

Dylan Guenther made the difference for Canada by scoring the winning goal in overtime with the help of Joshua Roy. This is a second straight overtime victory for the Canadians who beat the Finns last summer.

Defending champions, the Maple Leaf won gold for the 20th time in its history.

Dylan Guenther scored on the power play with a pinpoint shot across the top to give the Maple Leaf the lead in the first period. The Arizona Coyotes prospect had six goals in the tournament, all on the power play.

Canada's captain, Shane Wright, celebrated his 19th birthday the right way by going strong before beating Tomas Suchanek to double his team's lead in the second period.

The Czechs replied with two goals in 54 seconds in the third period to tie the game, thanks to Jiri Kulich and Jakub Kos who stunned Tomas Milic.

It was the first duel in the final of the tournament between the two teams.

Remember that in their first game of the preliminary round on December 26, the Canadians were surprised 5 to 2 by the Czechs.

In 24 meetings between the two countries in the history of the tournament, Canada has enjoyed 22 victories.