2023 World Juniors preview: Canada
The goal for Canada at the 2023 World Juniors is simple.
Repeat.
The hosts will look to make it back-to-back titles as they seek their 20th World Juniors gold medal when their 2023 campaign gets underway on Boxing Day against Czechia.
However, they’ll have to defy recent history to do so; no team has won back-to-back titles since 2009 when Canada’s five-year reign was ended.
Only a few months ago, Canada went unbeaten in August to claim gold in Edmonton, a feat they achieved for the 14th time. The victory was also the seventh time Canada had claimed gold on home soil.
🏆🥇#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/m5cbD7LI6R
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) August 21, 2022
In Halifax, there will be some familiar faces in the red and white; Connor Bedard, Ethan Del Mastro, Nathan Gaucher, Zack Ostapchuk, Brennan Othmann, Joshua Roy, Logan Stankoven and Olen Zellweger all return after they were members of Canada’s gold-medal team in 2022.
They are joined by 10 tournament debutants, all of whom are NHL drafted and currently play in the CHL, while alumnus Brandt Clarke (LA), Dylan Guenther (ARI) and Shane Wright (SEA) were loaned by their NHL clubs.
Of the 18 CHL players selected, only three are not in their final year of eligibility for the tournament. With that in mind, Canada has the oldest team at the tournament based on average age.
The team’s top three lines seem intact, at least based on how they’ve lined up in pre-tournament victories over Switzerland, Slovakia and Finland.
Wright will centre Canada’s top line with Othmann and Bedard on his wing. Stankoven and Guenther appear locked together on the team’s second line while the all QMJHL third line of Zach Dean, Gaucher and Roy continues to impress.
Newbies Caeden Bankier, Colton Dach and Reid Schaefer have all shuffled around the fourth line alongside Ostapchuk.
Del Mastro and Zellweger seem to be Dennis Williams’ first-choice ‘D’ pairing while Kevin Korchinski and Jack Matier played alongside each other in two of Canada’s exhibition games, as did Brandt Clarke and Tyson Hinds..
Canada will play all four of its round-robin games in Halifax. After their Boxing Day opener, the hosts will battle Germany Dec. 28, Austria a day later, before they conclude the group stages against Sweden on New Year’s Eve.
With an abundance of talent, as per usual, it’s difficult to pinpoint a few select players to keep an eye on. However, from Bedard to Zellweger, here are five Canadians poised to shine.
Connor Bedard — Regina (WHL)
He’s the best player in the CHL. He leads all skaters in points (64), is tied first in goals (27) and tied second in assists (37).
And he doesn’t even turn 18 for another six months.
Bedard, as expected after a 51-goal, 100-point campaign a year ago, has wowed in his second full WHL season.
After he was held pointless in the Pats’ season opener, the Vancouver native has since registered a point in every game thereafter, good for a 27-game point streak. He’s tallied 19 multi-point outings and has had five points in a game on three separate occasions.
At the 2022 World Juniors, Bedard finished in a tie for eighth in tournament scoring with eight points (four goals) while his +9 rating was third best.
A Connor Bedard game-winning goal. 💯#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/5tgo9x0UX9
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 24, 2022
Jack Matier — Ottawa (OHL)
Matier is one of five new faces among the Canadian defencemen corps and his inclusion is more than deserving.
The Nashville Predators prospect has anchored the blue line of the OHL’s best squad that has conceded the fewest goals in the league thus far. His 26 points are tied for the seventh most by an OHL defencemen and while his role on the Canadian squad won’t necessarily be as a point-producer, he can certainly chip in where needed.
Joshua Roy — Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
The Habs prospect has starred with the Phoenix thus far with a 1.65 point-per-game average where he’s recorded 18 goals in 26 games.
He’s notched 12 multi-point games and had a season high five points on Nov. 20 where he had a hat-trick and two assists in a victory over Quebec.
Roy, who set a Sherbrooke franchise record with 119 points a season ago, will provide scoring and skill on the all-QMJHL line to compliment the 200-foot game of Dean and Gaucher’s compete and grit.
In the 2022 tournament, Roy scored three times and tallied eight points while he averaged 19:44 a night.
What a beauty! 🤩#WorldJuniorspic.twitter.com/HvO5RnxDKt
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 22, 2022
Logan Stankoven — Kamloops (WHL)
The reigning CHL Player of the Year has continued where he left off last season with a sensational first half of the season.
The Dallas Stars prospect has recorded 44 points (17 goals) in just 21 games for a 2.10 point-per-game average and has recorded at least one point in every game this season.
Stankoven’s tallied eight games with at least three points this year and as a whole, has recorded 13 multi-point outings.
The Kamloops, B.C., native, who will play in the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia, finished third in team scoring at the 2022 World Juniors with 10 points.
Olen Zellweger — Everett (WHL)
Zellweger enters the 2023 tournament on the heels of being the best defencemen at the 2022 edition.
In Edmonton, the Calgary native was named to the tournament’s All-Star Team after he recorded 11 points and a +14 rating. Playing in all situations, Zellweger’s 20:31 time on ice average led all Canadian skaters.
The defending Bill Hunter Trophy Winner as the WHL’s best defenceman has 28 points in 23 games this season for the Silvertips.
A power play one-timer. 🤩#WorldJuniors | @OlenZellweger pic.twitter.com/UdyuxJXLms
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 20, 2022
