Team Canada had won the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton, Alberta. In Saturday’s final, Canada trounced the United States 8-1 in the gold medal game of the elite under-18 summer hockey tournament. Canada scored three goals in the first period, three goals in the second period, and two goals in the third period.
Defenseman Landon DuPont of Calgary, Alberta led Canada in scoring with four assists. DuPont, who was the Team Canada captain, is projected to be the first overall pick in the 2027 NHL Entry Draft.
There were five more Canadians with a multi-point game. Regina Pats centre Liam Pue of Langley, British Columbia and Pats centre Maddox Schultz of Regina, Saskatchewan each had two goals and one assist for three points, centre Brock England of Red Deer, Alberta scored twice, Guelph Storm centre Jaakko Wycisk of Tecumseh, Ontario had one goal and one assist for two points, and North Bay Battalion centre Camryn Warren of Vaughan, Ontario had two assists. The other Team Canada goal scorer was Newfoundland Regiment centre Benjamin Veitch of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Schultz was the tournament leader in scoring with 10 points. He had three goals and seven assists.
This was the 26th time Canada won the U-18 Summer Hockey Championship. The United States were the defending champions.
In other Edmonton hockey news, former National Hockey League centre Eddie Joyal of Edmonton passed away on July 20 at the age of 86. Joyal played nine seasons in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings (1962 to 1965), one season with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1965 to 1966), five seasons with the Los Angeles Kings (1967 to 1972), and one season with the Philadelphia Flyers (1973). In 465 games, Joyal had 128 goals and 134 assists for 262 points. He was a -102 with 103 penalty minutes, 60 power-play points, one shorthanded point, 16 game-winning goals, and 1105 shots on goal. Joyal’s shorthanded point was an unassisted shorthanded goal and came in a 4-3 Kings win over the Flyers on New Year’s Day, 1970. At the time, the Kings went up 3-1 at 7:45 of the first period.
