Teams Canada – Page 2 – CanucksBanter

By NHL Public Relations

February 12, 2025

A whirlwind 4 Nations Face-Off, the NHL’s first best-on-best competition since 2016 that will pit Canada, Finland, Sweden and USA against each other in a round-robin tournament with the top two teams advancing to the final next week in Boston, opens tonight at Bell Centre in Montreal when Canada faces Sweden.

Canada and Sweden 411

Canada and Sweden have met in an NHL International Tournament nine times, starting with the 1976 Canada Cup – the NHL’s first-ever international tournament – when Bob Gainey scored twice to help Canada earn a 4-0 victory in a game that included two legendary Hall of Fame defensemen in Bobby Orr and Borje Salming.
The two countries last met in an NHL International Tournament in the semifinals of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, with Theo Fleury scoring 19:47 into the second overtime to help Canada advance to the final. Canada has an 8-1-0 record in their nine meetings to date.
Canada captain Sidney Crosby (609-1,045—1,654) has more points than any active player and is the only skater in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament who ranks among the top 10 on the NHL’s all-time points list.
Sweden’s Erik Karlsson (196-660—855) and captain Victor Hedman (164-608—772) rank second and third, respectively, in career points among active defensemen.
Three of the NHL’s top-five goal scorers this season will be in this contest: William Nylander (2nd; 33), Brayden Point (t-4th; 31) and Sam Reinhart (t-4th; 31), as well as three of the top-five point producers in 2024-25: Nathan MacKinnon (1st; 87); Connor McDavid (4th; 71) and Mitch Marner (5th; 71).
Canada head coach Jon Cooper confirmed goaltender Jordan Binnington would be the starter in the opening game (Sweden did not confirm its starter). Binnington is one of two Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders on a 4 Nations Face-Off roster, with the other his Canadian teammate Adin Hill. Binnington, who was an OHL champion (2011), Stanley Cup champion (2019) and is the winningest goaltender in Blues history, will look to claim an international championship for the first time.
A pair of second-generation NHL players will follow in their fathers’ footsteps once again Wednesday when Canada’s Sam Reinhart and Sweden’s William Nylander hit the ice in the 4 Nations Face-Off opener.
Each player’s dad played at a past NHL International Tournament: Reinhart’s father, Paul, skated for Canada at the 1981 Canada Cup, and Nylander’s father, Michael, scored the last Sweden goal vs. Canada at an NHL International Tournament during the 1996 World Cup of Hockey semifinals. The same feat will happen Thursday when brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk team up for USA and follow in the footsteps of their father, Keith (1996 & 2004 WCH).
Guy Gaudreau, father of the late Matthew and Johnny Gaudreau, was invited to Montreal by USA and is taking part in the event. Guy has been included in team activities including a dinner Monday alongside American hockey legends Mike Eruzione, Rob McClanahan and Mike Modano, and on the ice for practice Tuesday at Bell Centre – where Johnny scored twice while wearing a Team North America jersey during preliminary action at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Much like the Blue Jackets are this season, USA will have a stall set aside in remembrance – hear from Guy and members of the USA team in Dan Rosen’s article on NHL.com.

Source: nhl.com

By Matt Tidcombe | chl.ca

December 24, 2024

Redemption.

That’s the key word for Canada as they head into the 2025 World Juniors.

After a quarterfinal defeat to Czechia last year, Canada will seek a 21st gold medal on home ice in Ottawa.

Their 2025 roster consists of four returnees from a year ago in London’s Oliver Bonk (PHI) and Easton Cowan (TOR), Brampton’s Carson Rehkopf (SEA) and Lethbridge’s Brayden Yager (WPG)

“The expectations are gold medal and if you don’t achieve that it’s a failure,” said Yager, who will captain Canada. “It’s a new year, a new group and the chance to redeem ourselves is a great opportunity.”

As per usual, Canada’s roster is loaded with NHL drafted talent. Twenty players already belong to NHL clubs with nine of them being first round selections; Bonk, Cowan, Oshawa’s Cal Ritchie (COL), Saskatoon’s Tanner Molendyk (NSH) and Yager were 2023 picks while Barrie’s Cole Beaudoin (UTA), Spokane’s Berkly Catton (SEA), London’s Sam Dickinson (SJ), Guelph’s Jett Luchanko (PHI) were selected earlier this year.

On the flip side, Canada’s roster includes four players who are still undrafted in Jack Ivankovic (2025), Porter Martone (2025), Gavin McKenna (2026) and Matthew Schaefer (2025). It marks the first time since 1991 three 17-year-old players are on Canada’s World Juniors roster.

“It’s a huge honour,” Martone said. “I think every Canadian kid can say they dream of playing at the World Juniors … and I have the honour and opportunity to represent Canada and I’m very grateful and excited to do it.”

Additionally, Ivankovic and Schaefer will look to become the first two players ever to win gold medals at the World U17 Hockey Challenge, U18 World Championships, Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the World Juniors.

“Any time you put on the Canada jersey you want to represent your country proudly and strongly,” Schaefer said. “It’s every kids dream to put it on so any time you get that chance you want to work as hard as you can and come to win gold.”

In Ottawa, Canada will look to make it three straight wins on home ice after success in Edmonton (2021) and Halifax (2022). In fact, they’ve won gold nine times at home while the lone previous time Ottawa held the tournament in 2009, Canada emerged victorious after a 5-1 win over Sweden in the final.

Preparations for the event couldn’t have gone better for Canada after three pre-tournament wins. Cowan (TOR) had a hat-trick Dec. 19 as part of a 7-1 win over Switzerland while two days later, Canada erased a 2-1 deficit in the third period to beat Sweden 4-2 as Ritchie (COL) had the game-winner with 3:36 to play.

They completed their pre-tournament schedule Dec. 23 with a 3-2 win over Czechia where McKenna scored twice.

Canada will compete in Group A of the round-robin, where they will open the tournament on Boxing Day against Finland. They’ll face Latvia Dec. 27 before they meet Germany on Dec. 29. They’ll conclude the round-robin against the USA on New Year’s Eve. The final is set for Jan. 5 at Canadian Tire Centre.

Source: chl.ca