ESPOO, Finland – Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team staged an epic comeback to win their fifth gold medal, their first since 2021, at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship, defeating the United States 6- 4 at Metro Areena on Sunday.
Tij Iginla (Lake Country, BC/Kelowna, WHL) scored the winning goal at 14:19 of the third period. It was Canada’s third straight power play goal during a five-minute major penalty for head checking.
Canada trailed 3-2 midway through the third period when Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, YT/Medicine Hat, WHL) started a comeback with his second of the game, tying the score 3-3. A little over three minutes later, Cole Beaudoin (Kanata, ON/Barrie, OHL) gave the Canadians their first lead. McKenna sealed the match by scoring into an empty net to complete his hat trick and make his 10e goal of the tournament, which allowed him to establish a Canadian record for the highest total of goals in one edition of the tournament. He also accumulated 20 points, the highest total by a Canadian in a single edition of the U18 Men’s World Cup.
“Obviously, we can’t do it alone. I was playing on an incredible line and on a wonderful team,” McKenna said. “I couldn’t have done it without them, there are so many guys here who stepped up when we needed them and it ended up working.” There was never any doubt in our locker room. We have made friendships that will last our entire lives. The United States played really well, but their punishment really helped us, we worked on our power play throughout the tournament, and that was the key to our victory. »
The United States took the lead in the last minute of the first period before seeing Ryder Ritchie (Kelowna, BC/Prince Albert, WHL) create the tie with his fourth goal of the competition in the second period. Trailing by two goals later in the duel, Canada took advantage of a backhand shot from McKenna against American netminder Nick Kempf which reduced the gap to 3-2.
Carter George (Thunder Bay, ON/Owen Sound, OHL) once again made his presence felt, multiplying spectacular saves, including one at the goal line against James Hagen at the end of the second period. He was named the tournament’s top goaltender following a 31-save performance in the final.
“I don’t have words to express what he has done for us, Georgie is incredible,” said McKenna. “He kept us in the game from start to finish. He saved the day on occasion in the tournament and he is a remarkable person and player, his potential is enormous. »
-“They say that aggressiveness is what holds a team together. We really needed it to hold on in the second period,” expressed thehead coach Gardiner MacDougall (Bedeque, PE/University of New Brunswick, AUS). “There is aggression, but there is also resilience, and this team showed a lot of that. We also showed initiative (with the scoring and the power play in the third period) and tenacity. All this is a testimony to the anger that inhabits this group. Watching that game, you probably thought at times there was no hope for us, but George kept us in the game. We pride ourselves on saying that the longer we play in a tournament, the better we have to be, and that showed today. It proves that this group has character. »
After the game, George, McKenna and Porter Martone (Peterborough, ON/Mississauga, OHL) were named to the media all-star team.
The full match summary is posted on HockeyCanada.ca.
Canada had a perfect run at the tournament, defeating Sweden, Czechia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan in the preliminary round, dominating their opponents 31-7. He confirmed his participation in the gold medal match by winning 4-0 against Latvia in the quarter-final, then signing a 5-4 victory against Sweden in the semi-final.
Since 2002, Canada has won five gold medals (2003, 2008, 2013, 2021, 2024), one silver (2005) and four bronze medals (2012, 2014, 2015 and 2023) at the U18 World Championship. the IIHF.
