Patience paid off for Canada on the powerplay.

After four consecutive penalty kills by Slovakia earlier in the game, Canada scored on three-straight powerplays in the third period to turn a 1-0 lead into a commanding 4-0 victory on Friday in the first semifinal at the 2025 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship in Frisco, Texas.
 

 

 

 

 

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Jack Ivankovic stopped all 24 shots he faced for the shutout and his fifth win.

Canada entered the game with the top powerplay in the tournament but Slovakia created some headaches in the first two periods on Canada’s man advantages. The Slovaks blocked shots, got sticks in passing lanes and were propped up well by the excellent play of goaltender Michal Pradel, who stopped 35 of 39 shots in the game.

But one minute 34 seconds into the third, Canada won a faceoff and defenceman Keaton Verhoeff got the puck over to Cole Reschny, who moved it down low to Braeden Cootes. Reschny opened up, received a return pass from Cootes and one-timed the puck high over the glove of Pradel. Verhoeff’s assist was the 22^nd point by a Canadian defenceman this event.

"It took awhile for us to score. The (first and second) periods, we had three or four powerplays, they did a good job blocking it," said Canadian head coach Cory Stillman. "We made some adjustments going into the third and you get one powerplay goal and everyone relaxes, doesn’t squeeze their stick as much and we ended up with three."

Just under five minutes later, Canada struck on the powerplay again. Ben Kindell fired a slap shot to the right of Pradel, who stopped the initial shot. But the rebound right to a wide-open Jack Nesbitt, who ripped home his first of the tournament.

At the 18-minute mark, Ryan Roobroeck scored Canada’s third powerplay goal, with Verhoeff and Xavier Villeneuve adding two more assists from the back end to make it 24 points by Canadian defenders.

"I think we gave ourselves a chance to win a game after 40 minutes, being just one goal down so we had our chance but we didn’t take it," said Slovak head coach Martin Dendis.

The win by Canada improves its overall U18 record against Slovakia to 14-0-0, which includes two overtime wins. Canada defeated Slovakia 9-2 during preliminary-round action at this year’s event.

Friday’s semifinal saw the teams battle through a scoreless first period before Canada got the icebreaker early in the second.

Villeneuve showed why he has been one of the players to watch at this tournament as he collected the puck from an Ethan Czata faceoff win and quickly threw the puck on goal. The puck bounced off a Slovakian defender and into the net to give Canada a 1-0 lead just under two minutes into the middle frame. It was Canada’s 10^th goal by a defenceman during this tournament.

"I was just trying to send pucks to the net and there was a great win by our centreman (Czata)," said Villeneuve. "It feels good to score those goals. Obviously, we gained momentum out of it."

Slovakia had a good chance to respond as Andreas Straka had a shorthanded breakaway with about five minutes left but Ivankovic made the save.

Slovakia may look back at the first 10 minutes of the game as a missed opportunity. Just 24 seconds in, Canada's Matthew Gard took a slashing minor and, at 4:23, Canadian Brady Martin hit Slovak Tomas Chrenko with a late hit behind Slovakia’s net, after the puck was long gone.

A stretcher had to be brought onto the ice but Chrenko was able to get up and skate off with the help of teammates and would return to action minutes later. There was no call initially but referees held a review and assessed Martin a five-minute major (interference) and game misconduct. That was a big loss for Canada, as Martin entered the game second in team scoring with nine points.

Canada killed off both penalties and didn't give up many chances. The best look came on a Lukas Tomka shot from the slot during the five-minute major, but the puck hit a body en route to the net and trickled just wide of the far post.

"It’s not the start we wanted," said Stillman. "Both calls were in the offensive zone, one was a two and one’s a five. Not only are you killing a five-minute major, but you lose a player, a high-energy player in Brady Martin. We recovered from that and I thought we did a good job killing penalties. It allowed six to seven guys to get in the hockey game up front and then we had to find momentum with getting the guys who don’t kill penalties back into the game."
 
Canada, which defeated Team USA in the 2024 final, is looking to become the first back-to-back gold medal winners at the World U18s since the United States accomplished the feat in 2014 and 2015.

Slovakia returns to the bronze medal game for the third-consecutive year and is trying to change its fortunes, as it lost both of those games and hasn’t medaled at the U18s since winning silver in 2003.