The 50th annual World Junior Championships were going to be different for Canada this year. After back-to-back quarterfinal exits viewed as something of a national catastrophe in a hockey-mad country, 2026 was a chance for the favored power to return to the top of the heap.

It has been different, but not in the way Canada had hoped. It lost to the Czech Republic, 6-4, Sunday in the semifinals at the Grand Casino Arena, which might have been 25 percent full for the clash. Tomas Poletin scored the winning goal with a minute remaining and his team added an empty-net tally before celebrating wildly.

The result sent the Czechs, bronze medalists the last two years and now responsible for three consecutive Canadian exits, into Monday’s gold-medal game against Sweden, an overtime victor against Finland in Sunday’s earlier semifinal. Canada, which won the last of its 20 WJC championships in 2023, faces Finland for the bronze.

“It’s the same feeling,” said Canadian star Gavin McKenna, who could be the first pick in June’s NHL draft. “You come all this way and don’t get any opportunities to throw on the flag. Letting your country down sucks.”

Czechia’s Maxmilian Curran began the winning play with a shot from between the circles. It appeared headed wide left before caroming into the net off Poletin’s skate as he was spun around by a defender. Poletin was facing away from the net when the deflection occurred, so the goal was allowed to stand.

“Those bounces are going to happen, and unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it,” said Canadian captain Porter Martone, whose team lost top-six forward Brady Martin to an upper-body injury partway through the night. “It was a pretty crazy ending, but that’s what junior hockey is. I wish we could have controlled that game better and slowed it down.”

Said Czech coach Patrick Augusta: “I’d say we were a little more hungry. Our guys showed a lot of character and will to beat them.”

The third period featured five goals, including an empty-net tally in the final seconds. The Czechs led, 3-2, at the stanza’s start, but Canada’s Cole Reschny scooted across the top of the crease and jammed the puck inside the far post to deadlock the game four minutes after the second intermission.

Five minutes later, Czech forward Vojtech Cihar powered around defenseman Caleb Desnoyers from the right wing and chipped a shot past goaltender Jack Ivankovic (31 saves) and under the crossbar at the near post. Canada didn’t help itself by taking two penalties within a minute not long after, although it killed off both fouls.

Canada pulled into a 4-4 tie with three minutes remaining. A shot from center point struck a stick in front and caromed to Martone, who scored at the right post.

The teams brought premade animosity into the game, not just from medal-round meetings the last two years, but from Canada’s 7-5 victory in pool play earlier in the current tournament. The Czechs felt they paid for being too reactive and were determined not to repeat their mistake.

“They try to get in our heads and trash talk and cross check you after the whistles,” said forward Adam Novotny. “But you have to show you’re a grown player and you’re not going to do something stupid.

“Those small things win you the game. You have to go to the net and take the punch.”

The Czech Republic had five power plays to Canada’s three. McKenna was assessed a 10-minute misconduct after the empty-net goal for verbal abuse of the officials.

Martone wasn’t willing to blame the men in stripes.

“You can talk all you want about the officiating, but if we’d really wanted to win that game, we could have found a way,” he said. “Obviously there were some calls we thought didn’t go the way they should have.”

Canada opened the scoring during the 16th minute on a power play set up by a goaltender interference penalty. A scramble resulted in Michael Misa being able to feed the puck from slightly below the left side of the goal line to atop the crease. Tij Iginla scored there despite the adjacent but inefficient presence of defenseman Jakub Fibigr.

The Czechs equalized two minutes later, their aggressive forecheck causing Canadian defenseman Braeden Cootes to hurriedly rid himself of the puck in the left corner. The biscuit bounced behind the net and out to the top of the opposite circle, from where Tomas Galvas unloaded a backhand shot.

Ivankovic kicked the effort onto the stick of Curran, standing to the left of the crease. The forward partially fanned on his own shot, the effect being a sort of changeup, drifting under Ivankovic.

“That was the key to our game, the forecheck and positional play,” said Augusta said. “We didn’t want to give them odd-man rushes with chipping the puck out and flying. We were very careful tonight and I think it worked.”

The Czech Republic went up, 2-1, early in the second period. Adam Titlbach popped a shot from between the circles and under the crossbar after receiving Max Psenicka’s backhand pass from the right circle.

The Czechs took consecutive penalties 21 seconds apart midway through the middle stanza. Canada took advantage, Zayne Parekh firing off the glove of netminder Michal Orsulak from the right circle.

Canada’s Samuel Drancak was awarded a penalty shot two minutes before the second intermission. Orsulak stopped the attempt but tripped Drancak, so a second try was ordered. Orsulak denied that one as well.

“He kept us in it and won us the game eventually,” said forward Vaclav Nestrasil, one of 17 players on his team who skate for Canadian junior clubs. “I hugged him and told him nice job and hopefully he’ll reset and do it again tomorrow as well.”

Said Augusta: “It was a very tough moment for us and the game could have gotten away from us. But our guys’ heads weren’t down. That’s not common and this team has it.”

Forty-three seconds before the break, Curran and Adam Benak broke in 2 on 1 with diving Canadian backchecker Sam O’Reilly too late to stop a lateral pass from the former to the latter. He smacked home a one-time shot from the right circle.

“You don’t win every game in hockey and you have to handle it like a pro,” said Martone, whose team met Czechia in the medal round for a fifth consecutive WJC. “It’s obviously a tough pill to swallow, but we’re still going for a medal tomorrow.”

Sweden 4, Finland 3 (shootout)

The Scandinavian foes played their ninth consecutive game decided by one goal or less, Anton Frondell scoring the deciding goal through Finnish goaltender Petteri Rimpinen’s legs in the shootout’s eighth round.

Finland, which eliminated the United States in the quarterfinals, couldn’t capitalize on a power play during the 3-on-3 overtime. Rimpinen made 23 saves and his Swedish counterpart, Love Harenstam, 31.

Sweden hasn’t won a WJC title since 2012 and has only done so twice since the official event began in 1977. It lost to the U.S. in the 2024 title game.

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OWATONNA, Minn. — A Minnesota appellate court judge was ordered to serve probation after pleading guilty to driving while drunk.

Renee Worke, age 67, of Owatonna, waived her right to a jury trial on Friday and pleaded guilty to one count of driving with a blood alcohol content above 0.08.

Worke is an elected Minnesota Court of Appeals judge.

She was taken into custody on Nov. 29, after a Steele County Sheriff’s deputy came across a vehicle stuck in a snowbank on the south shoulder of U.S. Highway 14 at the Interstate 35 overpass in Owatonna around 9 p.m.

According to the complaint filed in Steele County District Court, Worke was the only person in the vehicle and told the deputy she wasn’t injured and that she had had a glass of wine two hours prior. Worke was taken to the Steele County Detention Center for sobriety tests. A breath test showed a .16 blood alcohol concentration — twice the legal limit.

Worke was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving with a blood alcohol content of more than .08. The DWI charge was dismissed, and Worke was given one year of probation, a $500 fine and ordered to perform 15 hours of community work service within a year. Worke is ordered to abstain from alcohol for a year under the terms of probation.

Steele County Attorney Robert Jarrett said the case was handled without “consideration of position, status, or potential collateral consequences.” The probation term and conditions for Worke are consistent with how similarly situated first-time DWI offenders with no prior record are handled, Jarrett said.

Worke was appointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on June 9, 2005. She has been re-elected to the position in 2006, 2012, 2018 and 2024.

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The cases of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, and his wife will move Monday from the secretive realm of military special operations into the mundane world of U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, where at noon they are to stand before a judge and face charges of drug-trafficking conspiracy and other crimes.

Their appearance will be the first step in what undoubtedly will be a yearslong prosecution, after a stunning change of scene from Maduro’s presidential palace in Caracas to the grim and grimy reality of pretrial detention in a Brooklyn federal jail.

Because of the extraordinary nature of the case, what happens next will be predictable in some ways, and perhaps far less so in others.

The arraignment Monday will occur before the presiding judge in the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, and Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to enter pleas of not guilty. The judge will almost certainly order them detained. And it could be well over a year before a jury is seated to weigh the evidence against them.

But the prosecution of a leader of a sovereign nation snatched from his country in a highly choreographed military operation will most likely lead to arguments seldom heard in an American courtroom. Maduro’s lawyers might challenge, for example, the legality of his arrest and removal to the United States. They also could argue that as Venezuela’s leader, he is immune from prosecution.

What to Expect

Such initial hearings are often brief. Although the proceedings can vary, the judge will advise Maduro and Flores of their rights and ask how they plead.

The indictment released Saturday charges Maduro with narco-terrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine, among other counts. Flores is charged in the cocaine conspiracy. The charges carry stiff sentences if the defendants are convicted.

At the hearing, a prosecutor typically summarizes the evidence, such as recordings, documents and other materials seized in searches. There may be discussion of what kinds of motions the defense will file to challenge the government’s case.

The judge is likely to address the issue of pretrial detention, and under the circumstances, almost certainly will order that the defendants be held without bond pending trial. The defense can also raise concerns about conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a troubled lockup that has held other high-profile detainees.

And the judge will ask the prosecutors and the defense lawyers how much time they will need to prepare for trial.

The Setting

The case will play out in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Court House, an imposing 27-story tower of granite, marble and oak on the edge of Chinatown. Security is always tight in and around the building, and Maduro’s presence there will doubtless bring a marked increase.

The court is part of the Southern District of New York, which has been the site of trials of accused terrorists, Mafia figures and corrupt politicians. A former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was extradited to New York in 2022 and tried and convicted two years later in the courthouse. (Hernández was pardoned recently by President Donald Trump.)

The Players

Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District, led by Jay Clayton, will handle the case of Maduro and Flores. It is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. The charges stemmed from a lengthy and extensive investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Defense lawyers play a pivotal role in any criminal case. But because the Maduro prosecution is sure to raise difficult and complex issues — from the legality of his arrest to sovereign immunity to disputes over the possible role of classified evidence — his choice of lawyers and the strategy they chart will be crucial.

It is unclear who will represent Maduro and Flores.

Hellerstein, 92, was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by President Bill Clinton and recently presided over Trump’s attempts to move his Manhattan criminal conviction into federal court, a matter that is still pending.

The Stakes

For the government, the stakes of the prosecution of Maduro could hardly be higher. The Trump administration has made it clear that it went to extraordinary lengths to capture him in Caracas and bring him to New York to face trial, unleashing the full might of the U.S. military.

And the case is interwoven with aspects of Trump’s domestic and foreign policies — which, like the attack Saturday morning, have come under harsh criticism.

His focus on immigration has leaned heavily into a narrative that frequently cites the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — which Trump has tied to Maduro — as one of the reasons to pursue mass deportations. At the same time, the administration has pointed to the gang to justify its campaign of deadly military strikes on small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that it says are hauling drugs linked to Venezuela. The administration has designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.

At stake for Maduro is his freedom. If convicted, he could face between 30 years and life in prison.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Venezuela’s ousted president, Nicolás Maduro, arrived in New York City late Saturday to be held on drug and weapon charges, hours after President Donald Trump said the United States had captured him and intended to “run the country.”

The U.S. military operation in Venezuela followed a monthslong campaign by Trump’s administration to oust the authoritarian leader. In U.S. cities, it has led to both protests against the military intervention and celebrations among some Venezuelan migrants over the ouster of Maduro.

Here’s what we know:

What happened?

The United States carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela” in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured, Trump said.

Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference Saturday that Trump ordered the operation late Friday. The mission involved 150 aircraft that worked to dismantle Venezuelan air defenses so military helicopters could deliver troops to Caracas, the country’s capital, he said.

The mission took about two hours and 20 minutes and continued into early Saturday, when Maduro and Flores “gave up,” Caine said.

U.S. forces encountered significant resistance, Trump said. At least 80 people were killed, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe preliminary reports. Cuban state media reported that 32 Cubans were killed in the U.S. attacks on Saturday. President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba said the people were from Cuba’s armed forces or its Interior Ministry, on a mission at the request of Venezuela, according to state media.

No Americans were killed, Trump said. Two U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that about half a dozen soldiers were injured in the operation.

Did Trump have the authority to capture Maduro?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference Saturday that it would not have been possible to inform U.S. lawmakers in advance of the strike. He and Trump described the mission as a law enforcement operation, rather than a military action, which would have required greater congressional oversight.

Trump brushed aside concerns about the constitutionality of his administration’s actions during an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” saying that Democrats who criticized him should praise the effort.

“They should say, ‘Great job,’” he said. “They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’”

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on the administration to immediately brief Congress on its legal justification and its plan for the region.

Maduro, a self-described socialist, had led Venezuela since 2013. The Biden administration had accused Maduro of stealing the election that kept him in power last year.

The U.N. Security Council will convene an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the U.S. strikes in Venezuela.

Who is in charge of Venezuela now?

Vladímir Padrino López, Venezuela’s defense minister, said in a speech Sunday that the government that was in place under Maduro was still in charge and that the Venezuelan military “will guarantee the governability of the country.”

Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president in a secret ceremony Saturday, according to people close to the Venezuelan government. Padrino López said Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled Rodríguez was the acting president.

The day before, Trump said the United States intended to “run the country” until a transition of power could take place, but he offered few details about how that would work. His remarks mostly focused on how U.S. interests would extract and sell Venezuela’s oil.

On Sunday, Rubio said the U.S. military would maintain a “quarantine” around Venezuela to prevent the entry and exit of oil tankers under U.S. sanctions and to maintain “leverage” on the country.

At a news conference, Trump said Rodríguez was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”

But in a live address to Venezuelans later Saturday, Rodríguez denounced the United States, saying, “There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.” On Sunday night, she appeared to soften her tone toward the United States, raising the prospect of dialogue with the administration.

Rodríguez is known as an economic troubleshooter who helped orchestrate the country’s shift from corrupt socialism to similarly corrupt laissez-faire capitalism.

The main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who had organized what was widely seen as a winning presidential campaign in 2024, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize this year, posted a statement asking that her political ally, Edmundo González, be recognized as Venezuela’s president immediately.

In his own video statement Sunday, González referred to himself as the president of Venezuela and called for political prisoners to be released.

What will happen to Maduro?

Maduro and Flores “will soon face the full wrath of American justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

Maduro and Flores landed in New York on Saturday afternoon to face drug charges, U.S. officials said. They were being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and are scheduled to make their first appearance in court Monday at noon, according to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

A photo of Maduro in U.S. custody, released by Trump, shows him in handcuffs, wearing a black mask and headphones.

The attorney general posted an unsealed indictment charging him with narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracies and possession of machine guns, charges that carry lengthy prison sentences if he is convicted.

The indictment appears similar to a 2020 indictment against Maduro, during Trump’s first term, which accused him of overseeing a violent drug organization known as Cartel de los Soles.

Analysts have said that Cartel de los Soles does not exist as a literal organization, and that the term has been used more broadly to describe the alleged involvement of high-ranking Venezuelan military officers in the drug trade. However, no evidence has been publicly disclosed showing Maduro directing the effort.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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