Team Canada just made history at the WJC, and not in a good way. For the first time ever, the Canadian Juniors have been eliminated in the quarterfinals in back-to-back years.
Both losses were nearly identical, as in both games Canada played Czechia, fell to a two-goal deficit in the first period, had an unlucky bounce go off a London Knights defenseman into their own net, with the Canadians storming back to tie the game before the winning goal was scored by Czechia in the final minute of regulation.
Both losses are heartbreaking, but this year's may have stung more. A team loaded with talent that looked like clear favorites heading into the tournament, looking to find their way back to the top of the podium on home ice, lost in a 4-3 heartbreaker on Thursday night.
Unfortunately, they did not win gold, and now fans are all wondering what went wrong this time around.
Maple Leafs Prospect Easton Cowan and Team Canada Fall Short at WJC Once Again
A Lack of Team Identity
While many people have criticized the roster choices that this team made, the 2025 Canadian WJC team was good enough to win gold, and deserved better than a quarterfinal outing. While I do believe snubbed players such as Beckett Sennecke, Zayne Parekh, and Nick Lardis (among others) could've made a difference, this team had the talent to win.
This team went 6-0 in exhibition games vs the U-Sports All-Stars, pre-tournament matches against Sweden, Switzerland, and Czechia, and their opening game against Finland. This team showed they could win, but a lack of identity caught up to them as the tournament went on.
The 2018 Canadian WJC roster (recent controversies aside) had a clear identity from the get-go. They were a lightning-fast team with four lines who could score, along with a lethal power-play and good goaltending. Despite the lack of a real "superstar", this team stuck with their identity, had insane chemistry, and went on to win gold.
This year's team had none of that, and it cost them.
Stubborn Coaching
Coach Dave Cameron has received a boatload of the blame as the tournament went along, and most of it is deserved. The 3-2 loss vs the Latvians really killed a lot of the confidence this team had, and the players and Cameron never recovered. Canada only scored 2.6 goals per game in the tournament.
Despite goal-scoring being a problem, Cameron decided to scratch one of of Canada's two most prolific goal scorers, Carson Rehkopf and Porter Martone, in each of the games. Both players are top ten in points-per-game in the OHL, plus play on the same line together for the Brampton Steelheads, yet didn't ever play in the same game together.
That natural chemistry could've lit the lamp a few times during the tournament, but we'll never know, since Cameron never tried it. Martone scored a key goal in the game vs Czechia, and if he and other scorers on the team had more of a chance to play, maybe more goals would've been scored.
The 2023 tournament saw a loaded Canadian team lose their opener 5-2 against an underdog Czechia squad, and Head Coach Dennis Williams made changes. He put Connor Bedard with fellow junior stars Logan Stankoven and Joshua Roy on the same line, and the three of them went on to run the tournament, with Canada winning gold, with that line scoring four times in their semi-final win vs USA.
There was almost none of that from Cameron this year, and major changes were needed right after the loss to Latvia.
Lack of Discipline
It was clear the loss to Latvia really hurt Canada's confidence, as their never really found their footing after that game, and the frustration got to them. The third period against Czechia was actually pretty good, with Canada tying the game with under five minutes to play, but it was too little, too late.
The frustration was apparent in the 4-1 loss to USA, where Canada was shorthanded seven times, allowing three power play goals.
More penalties cost them against Czechia, as a 5-minute major penalty to Cole Beaudoin led to a goal against, and a late penalty taken by Andrew Gibson led to the winning goal in the final minute. Now to be fair, both calls were questionable, but if you're going to blame the refs for your loss, you likely didn't deserve it to begin with.
Final Verdict:
Despite all the players snubbed from this team, they were good enough to win, at least on paper. There were clear problems with this squad, but they worked their butts off in the quarterfinal, despite not winning the game.
If one things for sure, Dave Cameron will never coach Team Canada again, and maybe Hockey Canada can learn from this experience when picking a coach and their final roster.
In the player's defence, they played their hearts out, and while criticism is one thing, online harassment of Team Canada player's is unacceptable.
Canada looks for better luck at the upcoming Four Nations Face-Off, and the 2026 WJC tournament in Minnesota.