Canada has secured top spot in Group B following a decisive 11-3 win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship.

Gavin McKenna (two goals and four assists) and Porter Martone (1-4—5) combined for 11 points to lead the relentless Canadian attack. McKenna’s six points gives him 14 on the tournament, good for second place among all players, behind only Team USA’s James Hagens (7-9—16). Martone now has 13 points and sits in third place.

Despite the loss, Assanali Sarkenov had a game to remember, recording a hat trick for the Kazakhs.

Liam Greentree got things rolling for Canada at 5:01 of the first with a backhanded goal that beat Tanirkhan Alpysbayev. The Kazakhs answered back at 11:34 to briefly tie the game 1-1 on Sarkenov’s first of the game, a one-timer off a nice pass from Korney Korneyev.

Tij Iginla gave Canada the lead once again with his fourth goal of the tournament at 15:42 when he received a pass from Ryder Ritchie and snapped a wrister under the arm of Alpysbayev.

"I got a nice pass from Ryder on a bit of a fast-paced turnover and saw a little bit of daylight and thought I should just try and rip it and it just squeaked through the goalie, bottom right," said Iginla. 

Canada made it 3-1 on a pretty tic-tac-toe play where Porter Martone fed the puck to Gavin McKenna, who one-touched a pass to Maxim Masse, who then one-timed the puck in. The goal made some heads spin on the Kazakh side as it happened so fast and the score was 3-1 Canada after 20.

Cole Beaudoin scooped up a loose puck during a flurry in front of the Kazakh goal and backhanded home a goal at 3:02 of the second period and then Henry Mews snapped a shot past Alpysbayev 90 seconds later and it was 5-1.

Caleb Desnoyers scored his first goal of the tournament at 7:40 of the second. McKenna got his first of the game midway through the frame after a nice pass from Martone and then a quick forehand-to-backhand move by McKenna.

The Kazakhs swapped goalies at that point, with Danil Lytkin coming on in relief of Alpysbayev, who faced 33 shots in half a hockey game, many of them high-danger chances.

The McKenna-Martone magic continued with Lytkin in net, when McKenna sent a nice pass through the crease to Martone, who easily put it into the Kazakh net at 16:18 of the second.

With the game result already clear, the highlight of the third period was a breakaway by Sarkenov with five minutes to play, as he beat Canadian goaltender Carter George for the hat trick goal. Sarkenov also scored earlier in the period. Frankie Marrelli, McKenna and Harrison Brunicke scored for Canada in the final frame.
Canada fired a total of 66 shots on the Kazakh goal and the Alpysbayev-Lytkin duo deserve credit for keeping this closer than it could have been.

Carter George stopped 13 of 16 shots he faced for Canada. He said it's not easy playing in games where the majority of play is in the other end but he says you have to remain prepared.

"Lots of it is mental, trying to stay in it mentally," he said. "Just focusing on the next puck, trying to stay in the moment. I do little things like visualizing to keep me going in those games and so, when I do get a shot, I’ll be ready for it."

Canada will now face Latvia in quarter-final action on Thursday. The Latvians finished fourth in Group A with a 1-3 record, their lone win coming by a 5-3 score against Slovakia. Canada shouldn’t need reminding to not take the Latvians lightly as Latvia has played the top teams tough throughout the tournament, maybe the best example being their 3-1 loss to Finland.

"No matter who we face, we’re going to get their best in a do-or-die game like that," said Iginla. "We’ll try and be as ready as we can be and prepared as possible and try to come out flying."

Kazakhstan, which provided fans with one of the top moments of the tournament so far when it defeated Czechia 4-3 in overtime on Monday, finishes fifth in Group B. The Kazakhs will now prepare for a crucial placement game against Norway on Thursday. The winner will remain in the top group of the U18s in 2025, while the loser will fall to the U18 Division 1 Group A tournament next year.