In his first experience as a head coach on the international scene, Quebecer Mathieu Turcotte led Team Canada White to conquer the U17 World Challenge on Saturday evening. The tournament was played in Sarnia, Ontario.
Mathieu Turcotte is the head coach of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the QMJHL. Before obtaining this position, he stood out several times at the helm of teams that became exceptional within the Quebec M18 AAA League.
Before leading Team Canada White over the past two weeks, Turcotte’s only experience with Hockey Canada’s programs of excellence dates back to a summer development camp organized in 2018. As head coach of Team Quebec , Turcotte was then invited to join the national coaches to supervise young prospects including Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook.
I had always dreamed of one day being able to lead Team Canada. I have just experienced two unforgettable weeks
he said on Sunday, shortly after his return home.
Three Quebec players were part of Team Canada White, namely forward Jayden Plouffe (Saguenéens de Chicoutimi), defender Benjamin Cossette-Ayotte (Foreurs de Val-d’Or) and goalie Antoine Proulx (Chevaliers de Lévis dans la Ligue M18 AAA).
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Team Canada White won the gold medal with a 3-1 victory in the final at the expense of Team Canada Red. The United States, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic also participated in this competition.
It was the Swedes who won the bronze medal match by defeating the Americans 5-4 in overtime.
For several reasons, it was very interesting to question Mathieu Turcotte about his first international experience. First, because several top prospects for the 2026 and 2027 NHL drafts were taking part in this tournament. I will return to this later in this text.
I was also curious to know what philosophy the coach had recommended in order to allow a team of gifted people from the four corners of the country to develop winning chemistry in a short competition.
The identity of the team I just led at the U17 World Challenge was no different from the identity of the team I lead in Boisbriand or those I led in the U18 AAA League. I propose a game structure that is simple because that is what works best in my opinion. What makes your team the best or not then depends on how you execute the system. That’s what makes the difference in the end.
he maintains.
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However, the success of a game system necessarily implies that the defensive phase is very well executed. And that’s far from easy to achieve when you’re managing 16-year-old star players who are best known for their offensive prowess. Turcotte notably opted for a zone defense, a concept with which all his players had a good chance of being familiar.
The key for me was establishing some foundations and emphasizing work habits. It took a few games for ultra-offensive players to start playing the right way. In important matches, you have to know how to simplify things and not force the games unnecessarily. It’s not natural for exceptional players to play like that. But the more we progressed, the more they adopted this way of doing things.
continued Mathieu Turcotte.
In its last match of the preliminary round, Team Canada White lost in overtime to Sweden. Instead of finishing in 1st place and moving directly to the semi-final, the Canadians were forced to participate in the quarter-finals. However, this extra match turned out to be a real blessing, according to the coach.
The quarter-final match [remporté 4-2 contre la Finlande] allowed us to further solidify our trios and our pairs of defenders. Our goaltending has become more comfortable and our whole structure and chemistry has improved.
When we reached the final, the players gave us 55 minutes of exceptional execution. I have rarely seen a group of players play so well for such a long period of time in a match. It was almost a perfect match and it was really beautiful to see. When offensively talented players take the trouble to invest defensively, they are even harder to beat because they are more skilled than purely defensive players. So there is no one dropping pucks
analyzes the 39-year-old coach.
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When asked about the identity of the players who impressed him the most during this international competition, Mathieu Turcotte takes a pause.
On my team, I would say there are two: defenseman Keaton Verhoeff (Victoria, WHL) and forward Mathis Preston (Spokane, WHL).
In Verhoeff’s case, it’s not complicated, he’s a kind of Shea Weber. He really seems to be from the same mold. He is a big right-handed defender (6’3″ and 200 lbs) who stands out for his presence, his physical presence, his way of playing and his way of behaving. We had a week-long training camp last summer and from that moment it was clear that he was going to be our captain. He was nominated and he was the first player to lift the trophy
says Turcotte.
As for Preston, he is one of the players who benefited the most from the extra match that Team Canada White was forced to play.
Preston is a striker with incredible skills. He reminds me a little of Justin Carbonneau, one of my players with the Armada. Preston can do whatever he wants with a puck and is capable of taking control of a game in impressive fashion. He broke out in the quarterfinals scoring two goals, then he scored three in the semifinals and another in the final. The elimination matches gave him wings and he was the top scorer of the tournament
relate-t-il.
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According to Mathieu Turcotte, the title of best player of the tournament goes to defender Landon DuPont. The latter wore the colors of Team Canada Red.
Last spring, Hockey Canada made DuPont the ninth young hockey player to achieve exceptional player status since 2005. By obtaining permission to make the jump to major junior hockey at age 15, he joined a select group consisting of John Tavares (2005), Aaron Ekblad (2011), Connor McDavid (2012), Sean Day (2013), Joe Veleno (2015), Shane Wright (2019), Connor Bedard (2020) and Michael Mesa (2022).
Landon DuPont wears the colors of the Everett Silvertips in the WHL. Despite his 15 years, he maintains the impressive pace of a season of 18 goals and 55 assists (73 points).
Dupont was arguably the best defender of the tournament and he was the youngest as well. The Reds made him captain of their team and he was really good.
He can do anything on the ice. He is extremely fast, his shot is very powerful, he defends his territory well and his agility is clearly above average. All this despite the fact that he has not yet reached physical maturity
analyzes the coach.
The 2026 and 2027 drafts promise to be high-quality vintages for Canadian hockey.
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