Leo’s Hockey Report: Canadians play World Juniors host, fall short of national expectations

Team Canada's forward Calum Ritchie quarterfinals at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship (credits: Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)

The last time Ottawa hosted the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Men’s Hockey Championships in 2009, Team Canada put on a tournament to remember. 

The 2009 Canadian team defeated the United States on New Year’s Eve, thanks to a John Tavares’ hat trick that helped erase a three-goal deficit. 

The win helped the Canadians win the gold medal against Sweden, the country’s fifth consecutive gold medal that year.

Fast-forward over 16 years to the 2025 World Juniors, when Canada tried to harness the same championship-level energy in the nation’s capital.  

Canada opened the tournament on Boxing Day with a 4-0 win against Finland, thanks to Carter George’s 31 saves.

It went downhill from there. 

The team continued preliminary round play with a win against Germany and then fell tragically to Latvia in a shootout. As for their New Year’s Eve matchup with the USA, Canada fell 4-1 including three goals in the third period from the rival Americans.

Canada did make the playoff quarter-final and lost a seemingly inevitable matchup against Czechia.

The home team has now lost to Czechia in the quarters two years in a row, failing to medal for a second straight year.

With the tournament in the rearview mirror, many have questioned what went wrong for the team of under-20-year-old Canadians. Fans are scratching their heads around why a team with a litany of goal scorers and first-round picks bowed out in the quarterfinals for a second straight year.  

What went wrong?  

The team’s goal-scoring was halted. They scored 10 goals in the preliminary round compared to a 29-goal performance the last time Canada won gold in 2023 on home soil in Halifax.

Opponents silenced the team’s potent weapons. Players like Easton Cowan, Jett Luchanko and Cal Richie, all of whom are first-round draft picks and have tasted NHL-level hockey, managed to score one goal apiece. 

Meanwhile, Sam Dickinson, a defenseman who routinely scores for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, ended his World Juniors campaign with no goals and two assists.  

On top of a powerless offence, penalty minutes plagued the team.  

At the start of the World Juniors, Canada managed to avoid the penalty box. The team took three penalties against Finland, playing a clean game. However, the team’s discipline fell apart as the tournament continued, with players taking penalties at crucial times.  

The Canadians gave their opponents a viable road to victory while playing down a man. Don’t believe me? Ask Latvia’s Eriks Mateiko and USA’s Cole Eiserman how their teams defeated the host nation.  

“We didn’t score enough and we could have been more disciplined,” forward Bradly Nadeau told reporters after Canada’s loss to Czechia. “Those things didn’t help us, but we played a good team. In the end, we didn’t get the results we wanted.” 

Who should have been on the roster?  

Canadian fans have been discussing who was snubbed from the team. This year, there were several noticeable omissions, some of which could have played a difference in how Canada’s tournament ended.  

Michael Misa is a 17-year-old forward currently tearing up the OHL. Collecting 72 points in 36 games this season. On top of his prolific production, the Oakville, Ontario native is projected to go in the top three in this summer’s NHL entry draft. An underage player that could’ve made some magic like Bedard and McDavid have in the past.

Zayne Parekh, Caleb Desnoyers, Andrew Cristall, Carter Yakemchuk and Beckett Senecke were all left off the roster despite being standouts for their respective junior teams. After the team’s unsettling performance, many questioned if these players would have helped the team.  

“I don’t think we were short on talent. We didn’t score at times and that seemed to be a collective thing. I don’t know how to explain that,” Hockey Canada Head Scout Al Murray told reporters at a post-tournament press conference. 

What next?  

After a disappointment to a nation that makes the tournament a part of their holiday traditions, Hockey Canada must undergo an extensive laundry list of changes if they want a chance to medal next year in Minnesota.  

At the top of that list should be improving the selection process. During selection camp, General Managers Peter Anholt and Brent Seabrook invited several well-rounded players instead of pure goal scorers. As we saw, the two-way strategy did not pan out.  

When selecting and building their team, Hockey Canada should consider all their options. In doing this, skilled players like Michael Misa and Zayne Parekh are not left at home when they could help the team bring home gold.  

Team Canada might take a some inspiration from this year’s gold medal American squad who beat Finland in the final 4-3 in overtime, the Americans scored 37 goals in the tournament.