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Miami Herald
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
U-18 Men's Worlds: Eight Tournament Standouts As Canada Wins Gold
The under-18 World Championship finished up last night in Texas with Team Canada defying the odds to win the gold medal over a strong Swedish squad while the Americans took home the bronze in an overtime thriller. Coming into the tournament, Canada faced questions of whether they had enough firepower and depth at just about every position outside of goaltending. While their netminders, specifically Jack Ivankovic, were stellar throughout the tournament, they found offense from up and down the lineup. Braeden Cootes led the team in scoring with 12 points, while Lev Katzin and Brady Martin both scored in double digits. Against Sweden in the gold medal game, they showed their depth of scoring with a 7-0 win featuring six different goal scorers. Ivankovic was fantastic in net for Canada as well, making 28 saves on the night to hold Sweden off the board. It was their second straight gold and a well-earned victory without some of their top available names. In the bronze medal game, things were a bit tighter. The teams traded chances with the Americans controlling the first period, Slovakia taking over a bit in the second and the Americans controlling the pace in the third. But a clutch goal from Slovakia's Jan Chovan tied the game with under eight minutes to go, forcing overtime. The overtime was tense with the Americans having the edge in possession. With 4:23 left on the clock, Ben Kevan picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped it home to give the Americans the win. Everyone doubted this American squad because it wasn't a strong year for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. Even though they brought in several notable reinforcements, Kevan included, it was going to be an uphill battle on paper. The Americans exceeded those expectations to capture their fourth-straight medal at the tournament. With the tournament now over, let's take a look at some of the players who saw their stock rise and fall for this year's NHL draft. Ekberg took a massive step in the second half of his first OHL season with Ottawa, and he wanted to carry the momentum of that into the U-18s with the understanding that his stock had fallen after a poor first half. Not only did he carry the strong play into the tournament, but he led all scorers with 18 points in seven games and won MVP in the process. He was four points ahead of everyone else, and his skill and playmaking were on full display. This tournament couldn't have gone better for Ekberg individually, outside of winning the gold. The mobile, 6-foot-2 right-shot defender was simply masterful at times for Sweden, notching 14 points, which was good for second in the tournament. And he used his skating and fluidity to find success at both ends of the ice. Some questioned what his offensive ceiling could be after a very solid season at Boston University, because although there were some flashes of high-end puck moving, he never consistently put together good offensive performances, using his strengths to defend and transition the puck up ice. This tournament showed that in a situation where he's against his age group, he was more than capable of putting up some offense. With Michael Misa and Matthew Schaefer missing due to injury, the question of where Canada's offense would come from was prominent heading into the event. Cootes came in and immediately made it known that he was going to be a catalyst for this team as their captain. His impressive play saw him put up 12 points, including a five-point night to open the tournament against Slovakia. Cootes was already viewed as a fringe top-20 guy by consensus, but this tournament could see him move into the top half of round one securely. A leg injury suffered early in the year took Mooney out of the lineup for nearly two months, and when he came back, he looked like a shell of the electric, skilled, center-driven player we had all come to know. His size (5-foot-7) was always going to be an issue for NHL teams, but his play style helped mitigate the concerns. His play began to pick up over the last month or so, and then the U-18s arrived and Mooney was wheeling and dealing. He looked as good as he has all year and announced his return to form with some big-time plays en route to a bronze medal. Whenever Benak has thrown a Czech jersey on, he has been one of the best players on the ice, and he showed that throughout this tournament. He got a late start with Czechia because he was playing in the USHL playoffs, but he still managed to put up seven points in five games, showing out for his home nation. Benak, like Mooney, will face questions about his size (5-foot-7), but his play throughout the last year has earned him a draft pick, and his U-18s should entice teams even sooner than expected. Slovakia needed to get some timely offense from their lineup at this tournament, and they certainly got that from Chovan. He was always there when they needed him, it seemed, and his three points in a 4-3 overtime loss to the USA in the bronze medal game showed that. He tied the game late and looked like their best player at various points throughout this tournament. His game is simple but effective. Everywhere Ivankovic has played, he's put up stellar numbers and put his team in a position to win. Some scouts worry about his size, being just six feet, but the technical elements of his game, combined with the athleticism, have made him the best goalie on the ice in just about every game he's played over the last couple of years. Backstopping Canada to a U-18 gold medal with a .961 save percentage should have NHL teams interested pretty early on draft day. There's been some buzz around his name this year, but he wasn't consistently mentioned among the top goalies in the draft class. His performance at the U-18s was simply fantastic, giving Slovakia the insane goaltending they would need to compete for a medal. His two worst games both came against Canada, and he helped keep the Slovaks in the bronze medal game against the U.S. until overtime. The 6-foot-5 netminder could hear his name quite early at the draft. Get thelatest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and bysubscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting belowthe article on Copyright 2025 The Hockey News, Roustan Media Ltd.
Forbes
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Jack Ivankovic Backstops Canada To Gold At Hockey's 2025 U18 Worlds
Canada's Jack Ivankovic is a top goaltending prospect for the 2025 NHL draft. (Photo by Minas ...) Don't tell Jack Ivankovic that he's too small to succeed as a top-level goaltender. On Saturday, the 17-year-old won his second-straight gold medal at the 2025 IIHF world under-18 men's championship. He made 28 saves against Sweden, which had been the highest-scoring team in the tournament heading into the gold-medal game. When the same two sides met in pre-tournament action on Apr. 21, Ivankovic allowed six goals on 20 shots over two periods in an 8-3 win for the Swedes. Once the tournament began in Allen and Frisco, Texas, Ivankovic allowed just six goals in the six games he played. He was named the tournament's top goaltender with a .961 save percentage and two shutouts — in Canada's 4-0 semi-final win over Slovakia and in the gold-medal game. The Canadians' biggest challenge in the tournament came in their quarter-final matchup against Czechia. That went to overtime, tied 2-2, before Cole Reschny scored the game-winner at 2:41 of the sudden-death extra frame. The U18 tournament features players born in 2007 or later, and is the last international showcase for top prospects before the NHL Draft. The 2025 edition will take place in Los Angeles on June 27-28. Ivankovic will be one of the players waiting to hear his name called at the Peacock Theatre — and his performance in Texas may raise his draft stock. He sits fourth among North American goaltenders in the final 2025 draft rankings by NHL Central Scouting. That's due to a decent-but-unspectacular regular season with the OHL's Brampton Steelheads, where he finished with a 25-12-5 record and .903 save percentage. Also, Ivankovic checks in at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds. In NHL goaltending circles, bigger is almost always better. Dustin Wolf is expected to challenge for the Calder Trophy after a strong 2024-25 season with the ... More Calgary Flames. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Recency bias might make teams more willing to flaunt the conventional wisdom in June, however. In 2019, Dustin Wolf checked in at 6-feet and 161 pounds when he was drafted 214th overall by the Calgary Flames — fourth-last in the entire draft. After working his way up the ranks and winning two goalie of the year awards in the American Hockey League, Wolf became a top candidate for the NHL's Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2024-25. At 23, Wolf put up a record of 29-16-8 with a .910 save percentage and 11.9 goals saved above expected, fueling an unexpected push for a playoff spot by the Flames which lasted until the second-last game of the season. Other Canadians who likely saw their draft stock rise by bringing home gold at U18s include forwards Brady Martin and Braeden Cootes. Martin, a fiery center with the OHL's Soo Greyhounds, finished with 11 points and was named to the tournament all-star team. He's currently ranked No. 11 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Cootes, who wore the C for Canada, finished with a team-leading 12 points. The Seattle Thunderbirds center in the WHL is ranked No. 20. But the player whose stock likely rose the most is Swedish left wing Filip Ekberg. After putting up 45 points in 53 games with the OHL's Ottawa 67's this season, Ekberg landed at No. 178 among North American skaters on Central Scouting's list — in the range where even getting drafted is far from guaranteed. But the cerebral 18-year-old flipped that narrative in Texas. He finished with a tournament-leading 18 points in seven games and earned MVP honors, as well as being named to the all-star team. Swedish defenseman Sascha Boumedienne also earned all-star honors. He finished second in tournament scoring with 14 points. The 18-year-old, who went to the 2025 Frozen Four final as a freshman with Boston University last month, sits at No. 18 among North American skaters on the Central Scouting list. The 2024-25 schedule has now concluded for draft-eligible players in Europe and in the NCAA, but playoffs continue in the North American league play. In the USHL, the best-of-five Clark Cup final between the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Waterloo Black Hawks begins on Friday, May 9. In the Canadian Hockey League, the WHL Final will see Gavin McKenna and the Medicine Hat Tigers take on the Spokane Chiefs, while the London Knights and Oshawa General square off in the OHL. In the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats await the winner of the semi-final series between the Rimouski Oceanic and Shawinigan Cataracte. Rimouski currently leads 3-2, with Game 6 set for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. International play seems to agree with Jack Ivankovic. Last summer, he gave up three goals in four games for a .967 save percentage on his way to gold for Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He was also on Canada's roster for its gold-medal win at U18s in Finland, though he didn't see any game action.
New York Times
04-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Canada defeats Sweden to win repeat gold at U18 IIHF Men's World Championship
By Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman FRISCO, Texas — Canada has repeated as the IIHF Under-18 World Champions for the first time ever, defeating Sweden 7-0 Saturday night to secure the 2025 title. In a much-anticipated gold medal game between two teams loaded with top prospects in both the 2025 and 2026 NHL Draft classes, Canada blitzed Sweden in the first period, taking an early 2-0 lead on 20 shots in the first frame, grabbing an early lead and never looking back. Advertisement It started with Canadian defenseman Xavier Villeneuve, who opened the scoring just 4:06 into the game by capitalizing on a Sweden turnover and wiring a shot from the top of the circle. Then, Canada forward Brady Martin made his presence felt on his team's next two goals, first scoring off a slick pass from Cole Reschny at the top of the crease, and then screening Sweden goalie Love Harenstam on Jackson Smith's goal from the point to make it 3-0 early in the second period. Brady Martin with a beauty! 🚨 Un but de toute beauté de Brady Martin! 🚨#U18MensWorlds | # — Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 4, 2025 Canada pushed it to 4-0 later in the period on an Ethan Czata rush goal, and from there the rout was on. Martin added a highlight-reel tally to run it to 5-0 by the end of the second period. Sweden made a change in net after two periods, taking out Harenstam for Måns Goos, but Canada quickly got to Goos too, with forward Braeden Cootes striking just 1:12 into the third. Forward Jack Nesbitt rounded out the scoring later in the third for Canada. Canada goaltender Jack Ivankovic stopped all 28 shots he faced, securing shutouts in both the semifinal and gold medal game. Despite the nation's incredible hockey history and pedigree, Canada had previously won the World U18 Championship (which began in 1999) just five times, and never before in consecutive seasons. That may be due in part to the event's overlap with the Canadian Hockey League — encompassing all three major junior leagues — playoffs, taking some of the top talent in the age group out of Team Canada's player pool. Even this year, top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Caleb Desnoyers was not available due to his QMJHL playoff run with Moncton, 2026 draft eligible Gavin McKenna is still in the WHL playoffs with Medicine Hat, and fellow top prospects in the 2007 birth year Michael Misa and Matthew Schaefer — both 2025 eligibles — were not available to Team Canada due to injury. Advertisement But in a strong class for the group, it didn't matter. Canada finished a perfect 7-0 in the tournament, racing through pool play with a tournament-best plus-24 goal differential, and then punctuated the event with a strong showing in the medal round that also included a 4-0 shutout of Slovakia in the semifinal. Canadian goaltender Jack Ivankovic was already the first and only goalie to ever win gold at all three of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and U18 Worlds. When he won gold at the latter, he was the third-stringer. Now he has two golds at U18 Worlds and he can say he was the goaltender of record at all three major tournaments. JACK IVANKOVIC!!! 🤯#U18MensWorlds | # — Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 4, 2025 How about this for international pedigree at 17 years old (he doesn't turn 18 for another two and a half weeks): 2023 U17s: 5-3-0, .923 SV% 2024 Hlinka: 4-0-0, .967 SV% 2025 World Juniors: 0-0-1, .923 SV% 2025 U18s: 6-0-0, .961 He looked like he was in a different class than the rest of the goalies at this year's U18s. He's still eligible to play for Canada at both the 2026 and 2027 World Juniors as well. — Scott Wheeler Canada's tournament has had ups and downs, including a nail-biter vs. Czechia in the quarterfinals, and an unconvincing win over a lackluster Finland team. They have had their consistent standouts all tournament: Forwards Cole Reschny, Brady Martin and Braeden Cootes, alongside defenseman Keaton Verhoeff and their goalie Ivankovic, but the depth of their team was a major issue. They were not getting secondary scoring or consistent puck possession from the down parts of their lineup. That changed in the medal round and especially in the final game against Sweden. They were rolling four lines, and many of the down-lineup forwards had their best game of the tournament in terms of chance generation and controlling the play. The story of the 2025 NHL Draft and possibly the 2026 draft will be the strength of the CHL and Canadian crop of talent, and it was on display in the medal round this weekend. — Corey Pronman Advertisement The result Saturday certainly sours things, but Sweden had an impressive tournament, both individually and as a team. Their 4-3 win over the United States in Friday's semifinal was a highly competitive and exciting game, ultimately decided by a pair of Swedish goals midway through the third period. 2026 draft eligible Viggo Bjorck had three points in that game, and fellow 2026 eligible Ivar Stenberg (the younger brother of St. Louis Blues prospect Otto Stenberg) was one of the best players at the tournament. On top of that, defenseman Sascha Boumedienne set the tournament record for points by a defenseman with 14, and forward Filip Ekberg won tournament MVP honors with 10 goals and 18 points in seven games, the most points ever by a Swede at the event. That said, it was a quieter-than-hoped week for top 2025 draft-eligible forward Anton Frondell, who finished with three points in five games — although he did play some of his best hockey of the event early in the gold medal game, before it got out of hand. — Max Bultman F: Brady Martin (CAN) F: Filip Ekberg (SWE) F: Ivar Stenberg (SWE) D: Sascha Boumedienne (SWE) D: Drew Schock (USA) G: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) MVP: Filip Ekberg (SWE) Best G: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) Best D: Sascha Boumedienne (SWE) Best F: Filip Ekberg (SWE) Pronman's All-Star & MVP Ballot MVP: Ivar Stenberg (SWE) F: Ivar Stenberg (SWE) F: Filip Ekberg (SWE) F: Brady Martin (CAN) D: Sascha Boumedienne (SWE) D: Keaton Verhoeff (CAN) G: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) Wheeler's All-Star & MVP Ballot MVP: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) F: Ivar Stenberg (SWE) F: Brady Martin (CAN) F: Filip Ekberg (SWE) D: Sascha Boumedienne (SWE) D: Drew Schock (USA) G: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) Bultman's All-Star & MVP Ballot MVP: Filip Ekberg (SWE) F: Filip Ekberg (SWE) F: Ivar Stenberg (SWE) F: Brady Martin (CAN) D: Sascha Boumedienne (SWE) D: Drew Schock (USA) G: Jack Ivankovic (CAN) (Top photo of Jack Ivankovic (left) and Brady Martin (right): Micheline Veluvolu / Courtesy of IIHF)
Winnipeg Free Press
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada whips Sweden 7-0 to strike gold in U-18 men's world hockey championship
FRISCO – Martin Brady scored twice, netminder Jack Ivankovic stopped 28 shots, and Canada whipped Sweden 7-0 in the Under-18 world men's hockey championship gold-medal game on Saturday at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. Xavier Villeneuve, Jackson Smith, Ethan Czata, Braeden Cootes and Jack Nesbitt also scored for Canada, which led 2-0 after the first period and 5-0 heading into the third. Ben Kindel chipped in with a pair of assists. Sweden, which was coming off an emotional 4-3 semifinal win over the United States on Friday, didn't appear to have much left in the tank for the aggressive Canadians, who blanked Slovakia 4-0 in Friday's other semifinal. UNITED STATES 4 SLOVAKIA 3 (OT) Ben Kevan's goal at 5:37 of overtime lifted the United States to a 4-3 victory over Slovakia in Saturday's bronze-medal game. Jan Chovan of Slovakia scored with 6:47 left in the third period to force the extra session. Blake Fiddler, Jacob Kvasnicka and Cole McKinney also scored for the Americans, who led 1-0 after the first period but trailed 2-1 heading into the third. Michal Svrcek scored twice for the Slovakians, who were outshot 33-26. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ivankovic perfect as Canada blanks Slovakia 4-0 in semi of under-18 hockey worlds
ALLEN – Jack Ivankovic stopped all 24 shots he faced as Canada blanked Slovakia 4-0 on Friday in the semifinal of the men's under-18 world hockey championship. Cole Reschny and Jack Nesbitt each had a power-play goal in the third period for Canada. Xavier Villeneuve opened scoring in the second and Ryan Roobroeck added some insurance with an even-strength goal with two minutes left to play. Canada will face either Sweden or the United States for gold on Saturday. Michal Pradel made 35 saves for Slovakia. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. The Slovaks will face the loser of the semi between Sweden and the U.S. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.
