Canada wins gold, thirteen Western Hockey League players medal at 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship

Frisco, Texas—The Western Hockey League contingent came up big as Canada captured gold for a second straight year at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship.

Canada cruised to a 7-0 win over Sweden on Saturday in the first-ever meeting in the gold-medal game between the countries at the tournament.

“It’s a world championship- everyone’s here,” Alternate captain Cole Reschny (Macklin, Sask. / Victoria Royals) said. “So we knew what we had in mind coming here and to come here and do it, it’s pretty special and it’s pretty unbelievable.”

The trophy 🏆 #U18MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/WJaUJh0Cdw

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 4, 2025

This marks Canada’s first-ever back-to-back gold medal performance at the IIHF U18 World Championship and the first time a country has recorded consecutive first-place finishes since the United States in 2014 and 2015.

Canada didn’t lose a single match at the event with a 7-0 record.

For five WHLers on the team (Jackson Smith, Braeden Cootes, Cole Reschny, Ben Kindel and Cameron Schmidt), the win marks the second gold of their NHL Draft season after winning the Hlinka Gretzky Cup last August.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Smith (Calgary, Alta. / Tri-City Americans) said. “There’s nothing better than to win gold for Team Canada, so to get to do it twice is an incredible feeling and I hope I’ll get to do it a couple more (times).”

Captain Braeden Cootes (Sherwood Park, Alta. / Seattle Thunderbirds) and Reschny were both recognized among Canada’s three stars of the tournament.

With Canada leading 1-0 in the first period, a point shot bounced off of a sea of bodies in front of the Swedish net and popped out to Reschny to slide the puck to Brady Martin to double the lead.

Top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Jackson Smith (Calgary, Alta. / Tri-City Americans) scored the third of the night and the 12th goal by a Canadian defenceman at the tournament in the second period with a screened wrister from the blue line.

The pile-on continued as Ben Kindel (Coquitlam, B.C. / Calgary Hitmen) forced a turnover at the Canadian blue line to spring Ethan Czata for a two-on-one opportunity as the Niagara Ice Dogs star potted his first goal of the tournament.

WHL Rookie of the Year nominee Keaton Verhoeff (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. / Victoria Royals) helped close out a three-goal second period with a secondary assist on Brady Martin’s second goal of the night.

Cootes chipped in late with his team-leading sixth goal of the tournament as he rifled a five-hole shot from the boards to make it a 6-0 lead for Canada, with Cameron Schmidt (Prince George, B.C. / Vancouver Giants) picking up a helper.

Kindel earned his second assist of the night as Jack Nesbitt closed out the scoring and the Canadian players streamed onto the ice in celebration.

“It wasn’t just one guy going, I think we had four lines, you know, six, seven D going,” Cootes added. “It wasn’t just one line or two. We had great depth, and I think that’s always the thing with Canada. We have great depth. I mean, anybody could play in the top six. That’s just how good we are, and everybody did their role, and we came out on top.”

Cootes closes the tournament as Canada’s top scorer with six goals and six assists for 12 points in seven games.

The T-Birds star also ranked fourth in points among all skaters and third in goals.

NOTES

2025 NHL Draft-eligible defenceman Blake Fiddler (Frisco, Texas / Edmonton Oil Kings) scored the game-opening goal in a 4-3 overtime thriller against Slovakia to earn a bronze medal with the United States.