Team Canada has won the gold medal at the 2025 World Under-18 Men’s Hockey Championships in Frisco, Texas. In the championship game on Saturday, Canada clobbered Sweden by a score of 7-0.
It was a glorious performance by Canadian goaltender Jack Ivankovic of Mississauga, Ontario, who made 28 saves for the shutout. This was the second shutout for Ivankovic in the tournament as the Brampton Steelheads netminder made 24 saves in a 4-0 Canada win over Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday.
Offensively, in the gold medal game, three Canadians had multi-point games. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds centre Brady Martin of Elmira, Ontario had two goals, Windsor Spitfires centre Jack Nesbitt of Sarnia, Ontario had one goal and one assist for two points, and Calgary Hitmen centre Ben Kindel of Coquitlam, British Columbia had two assists. The other four Canadian goal scorers were defenseman Jackson Smith of Calgary, Alberta, captain Braeden Cootes of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Niagara IceDogs centre Ethan Czata of Brampton, Ontario, and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defenseman Xavier Villeneuve of Les Cedres, Quebec.
Team Canada went undefeated throughout the tournament. They defeated Slovakia 9-2, Latvia 7-1, Finland 5-1, and Norway 8-1 in Group A action. Canada then beat Czechia 3-2 in overtime on a game-winning goal by Victoria Royals centre Cole Reschny of Macklin, Saskatchewan.
This was the sixth World Under-18 Men’s Hockey Championship gold medal for Canada. They previously won in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2021 and 2024.
