U18 RECAP: Canada to Play for Gold at U18 World Championship
Frisco, TX – Canada has advanced to the final at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship following a 4-0 win over Slovakia on Friday in the semifinal.
The Canadians struck three times on the power play in the third period to turn a 1-0 score into a 4-0 final. Defenceman Xavier Villeneuve (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) scored in the first, before Cole Reschny (Victoria Royals), Jack Nesbitt (Windsor Spitfires) and Ryan Roobroeck (Niagara IceDogs) each found the back of the net in the third period.
Canada will face the winner of the United States and Sweden in the Gold Medal game on Saturday, May 3 at 5 p.m. PT.
The two Vancouver Giants representatives in Friday’s semifinal – forward Cameron Schmidt and defenceman Ryan Lin – combined for four shots on goal, but neither registered a point. Lin played a big part in an early five-minute penalty kill, blocking multiple shots.
Giants goaltender Burke Hood is also representing Canada internationally for the first time, but is the third goaltender and has not seen any game action.
Giants prospect Tobis Tomík played over 17 minutes for Slovakia and had one shot on goal. Slovakia will play the loser of the other semifinal in the Bronze Medal game on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT.
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Canada is looking to become the first back-to-back gold medal winners at the World U18s since the United States accomplished the feat in 2014 and 2015.
Slovakia returns to the bronze medal game for the third-consecutive year and is trying to change its fortunes, as it lost both of those games and hasn’t medaled at the U18s since winning silver in 2003.
