By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer

For the second year in a row, team Canada fell in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship quarterfinals to Czechia. Though Canada holds the record for most tournament titles with 20, the team has seen little success since last winning the tournament in 2023.

Despite their first win against Finland 4–0, Canada struggled with scoring throughout the group stage. The team held a 1–0 lead against Latvia until the final seven minutes, when Latvia scored on the power play to tie the game late. Canada scored 64 seconds later on their own power play, and all seemed well for the host team before Latvia made it 2–2 with under three minutes to go in the third period. Overtime solved nothing, and outstanding performances from goalies Jack Ivankovic and Linards Feldbergs took the shootout to eight rounds before Eriks Mateiko scored to win the game for Latvia. This was a team that Canada had beaten 10–0 in 2024. In 2025, however, Latvia earned their first win over the host country, who showed glaring issues with the ineffectiveness of their offensive, and their passiveness on defence.

Goaltending was the only constant throughout the tournament. Canadian goalie Carter George shut out Germany in Canada’s third preliminary game — the host team winning 3–0 against a team that narrowly missed relegation the previous year.

Canada dropped their final group stage game to the defending champions, the US. The Americans took the lead early in the game, before Carolina Hurricanes prospect Bradly Nadeau scored on the power play, under two minutes into the third period. The hopes for a Canadian win were quickly dashed however, as the US team scored three unanswered goals — two power plays and one empty net — to take the 4–1 win. 

“A team that Canada had beaten 10–0 in 2024 earned their first win over Canada, while the host country showed the glaring issues with the ineffectiveness of their offensive, and their passiveness on defence.”

Heading into the quarterfinals, Canada looked to get revenge on their Czech opponents after their shock elimination the previous year. Czechia took a commanding 3–1 lead in the first period alone, though Canada powered back to tie it, scoring in the second and adding the equalizer in the final five minutes. The dream of a Canadian comeback was dashed, however, when Nashville Predators prospect Andrew Gibson took a kneeing penalty with under 3 minutes to go. Canada tried to hold off the Czech attack, though with 17 seconds remaining on the penalty to Gibson and 40 seconds remaining in the game overall, Adam Jecho scored to make it 4–3 Czechia, virtually eliminating Canada from the tournament.

With the team’s tournament now over, many looked to the glaring issues that caused the repeated premature elimination. Canada only scored 13 goals in the group stage, compared to 23 in 2024 and 42 in 2023, showing a dramatic drop in offensive performance across the board. 

Another main issue was lack of discipline. The tournament uses IIHF rules, which are seen as more “strict” when compared to NHL rules, and Canada’s squad had not adjusted their play accordingly — unlike the rest of the teams they were playing against. Canada had incurred 113 penalty minutes over just the five games they played, 22 over Czechia in second-most with 91. In the quarterfinal alone, Canada had earned 55 penalty minutes — almost an entire regulation game — over Czechia only getting 10. 

Though his team had 8.7 penalty minutes for every goal they scored, Canadian head coach Dave Cameron claimed he had “no regrets” after Canada’s disappointing finish. Czechia went on to win the bronze medal after a record-breaking 14-round shootout against Sweden, and the Americans won gold in overtime against Finland — earning their first ever back-to-back World Junior Championships. 

With the 2026 tournament headed south of the border to Minnesota, the Americans will look to extend their history-making run, while Canada looks to pick up the pieces of repeated disappointing performances from a nation used to dominating this tournament, and the sport overall.