photo: Andy Devlin/Hockey Canada Images
Canada steamrolled the United States, 8-1, yesterday at Rogers Arena in Edmonton to win gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup for the 26th time. The Canadians were led by projected 1st overall pick in 2027, Landon DuPont, the captain, who had four assists. Brock Englund, Maddox Schultz, and Liam Pue all had two goals for the winners, who scored three times on the power play.
Canada is now 8-0 against the U.S. in gold-medal games at this event.
“I’m proud of that group,” said winning head coach Ryan Oulahen, who also is behind the bench of the North Bay Battalion in the OHL. “I would have been proud even if it was a 1-0 game, just because of the way we played. Everybody bought in to how we wanted to do things. It’s an impressive group led by an impressive staff around me. I’m going to remember this forever.”
It was a battle of the two undefeated teams in the tournament, both with 4-0 records heading to the final game. In fact, the U.S. allowed only eight goals in their four wins, only to give up as many in the one game against Canada.
Pue led the tournament with six goals and was second in points with nine. Teammates Schultz and Jaakko Wycisk were first with ten points each, while Wycisk also led all skaters with eight assists.
American goalie Mason Courville led the tournament with a GAA of 2.14 while Swiss netminder Luca Blaser was tops in save % at 0.926.
“Ever since Day One, this has been our goal,” said a jubilant DuPont. “We set the tone early and kept going, shift after shift. We had a good night tonight. We were finding the net, and the power play was clicking. Last year was also a great team but we just came up short, but this year we also had such a great group. We’re a hard-working group that just loves to play the game. We have so much fun out there.”
Indeed, the win was a measure of revenge for DuPont who was on the 2025 team as a 16-year-old. They lost to the U.S., 4-3 in a shootout in the semi-finals and had to settle for a bronze after beating Finland, 3-0. The Americans went on to win gold for the first time in 22 years, beating Sweden, 5-3, in the finals.
The Finns won bronze again this year. Although they dominated Slovakia, outshooting them 39-14, they trailed 2-0 after the first and 2-1 after the second. But in the third, Luca Santala scored after only 34 seconds to tie the game, and Roni Kuukasjarvi scored the winner on a power play midway through the final period. Slovakia was unable to mount much pressure after that and had to settle for fourth place.
Also on Saturday, Sweden beat Germany, 4-2, to finish in seventh place. Oliver Sundberg and Olle Zetterstedt scored two goals each for the Swedes, who started with a win and then lost two games giving up seven goals (7-6 to Switzerland, 7-4 to Canada). The Germans failed to win a game of the four they played.
On Friday, the Swiss beat the Czechs, 5-1, to claim fifth place. The game was tied, 1-1, early in the second period before the Swiss scored four unanswered goals to pull away for the win.
Canada is now 8-0 against the U.S. in gold-medal games at this event.
“I’m proud of that group,” said winning head coach Ryan Oulahen, who also is behind the bench of the North Bay Battalion in the OHL. “I would have been proud even if it was a 1-0 game, just because of the way we played. Everybody bought in to how we wanted to do things. It’s an impressive group led by an impressive staff around me. I’m going to remember this forever.”
It was a battle of the two undefeated teams in the tournament, both with 4-0 records heading to the final game. In fact, the U.S. allowed only eight goals in their four wins, only to give up as many in the one game against Canada.
Pue led the tournament with six goals and was second in points with nine. Teammates Schultz and Jaakko Wycisk were first with ten points each, while Wycisk also led all skaters with eight assists.
American goalie Mason Courville led the tournament with a GAA of 2.14 while Swiss netminder Luca Blaser was tops in save % at 0.926.
“Ever since Day One, this has been our goal,” said a jubilant DuPont. “We set the tone early and kept going, shift after shift. We had a good night tonight. We were finding the net, and the power play was clicking. Last year was also a great team but we just came up short, but this year we also had such a great group. We’re a hard-working group that just loves to play the game. We have so much fun out there.”
Indeed, the win was a measure of revenge for DuPont who was on the 2025 team as a 16-year-old. They lost to the U.S., 4-3 in a shootout in the semi-finals and had to settle for a bronze after beating Finland, 3-0. The Americans went on to win gold for the first time in 22 years, beating Sweden, 5-3, in the finals.
The Finns won bronze again this year. Although they dominated Slovakia, outshooting them 39-14, they trailed 2-0 after the first and 2-1 after the second. But in the third, Luca Santala scored after only 34 seconds to tie the game, and Roni Kuukasjarvi scored the winner on a power play midway through the final period. Slovakia was unable to mount much pressure after that and had to settle for fourth place.
Also on Saturday, Sweden beat Germany, 4-2, to finish in seventh place. Oliver Sundberg and Olle Zetterstedt scored two goals each for the Swedes, who started with a win and then lost two games giving up seven goals (7-6 to Switzerland, 7-4 to Canada). The Germans failed to win a game of the four they played.
On Friday, the Swiss beat the Czechs, 5-1, to claim fifth place. The game was tied, 1-1, early in the second period before the Swiss scored four unanswered goals to pull away for the win.