WINDSOR, ONT. – Team Canada left the World Junior Summer Showcase with a sour taste in its mouth following a 7-2 loss to the United States on Saturday at the WFCU Centre.
“Very frustrating,” said University of North Dakota centre Cole Reschny, who wore the ‘C’ for Canada. “We’ve talked about it lots, we weren’t happy with last year’s camp and this is really frustrating, especially because we had lots of the [returning] guys playing too.”
After splitting its first two games in Windsor, Ont., Canada dressed all eight of their returning players at the camp for the finale in the hopes of ending on a high. Instead, it ended up being a similar feeling to last year when Canada also went 1-2 at the summer camp.
“As a leader, not happy with this,” said Reschny, a Calgary Flames prospect, who was part of Canada’s bronze-medal winning team last year. “We know this isn’t good enough and this burns a bit. It should light a fire under all of us and should give you that much more motivation to have a year, first half of the year here, make your way back onto the team and get a second chance at all of this. And, really, we’ve talked about it lots, but just playing the Canadian way, bringing that mindset and actually doing it.”
Canada led 2-1 in the second period before surrendering six straight goals to the Americans, who did not have star defenceman Chase Reid in the lineup and were coming off losses to Finland and Sweden.
Canada failed to score on seven power-play chances and allowed a shorthanded goal.
“It’s pretty embarrassing, honestly,” said Vancouver Canucks prospect Braeden Cootes. “Never want to do that, doesn’t matter if it’s August or Boxing Day, but we’ll learn from it. It’s tough. Obviously it’s not what we wanted, but it gives us some motivation, for sure, the rest of the summer and then going into Christmas.”
Ottawa Senators prospect Lucas Beckman allowed seven goals on 24 shots. Michigan Wolverines goalie Jack Ivankovic, who is a lock to play in a third straight World Juniors, dressed as the backup for a third straight game.
Carolina Hurricanes prospect Ryder Fetterolf stopped 34 of 36 shots for Team USA.
Hockey Canada invited fewer players to this summer camp with only 31 making the trip to Windsor, which was down from 42 last year. That allowed for faster-paced practices and more 1-on-1 time to build relationships.
But it did not lead to better results on the ice as Canada lost to Sweden 5-3 in its opening game on Wednesday before rallying from 3-0 down to beat Finland 5-3 on Thursday.
“Winning’s important,” said head coach Misha Donskov. “I mean, it’s a key part of this process. It’s a key part of this evaluation camp. I really liked a lot of our game over the course of the three games we played here. It’s been a great week, real good practices, a lot of teaching and building relationships. I didn’t like the result [Saturday] and I didn’t like a lot of our game. Having said that, there were parts of our game that I did like so I think we gotta continue to build, continue to focus on what we want to do and the way we want to play and move forward.”
Donskov identified puck management as an area that can be cleaned up.
Canada is looking to snap a three-year championship drought when the World Juniors return to Edmonton and Red Deer this year. The United States is also looking to get back on track after a quarterfinal loss on home ice in Minnesota last year.
“They came out pretty hard, which we expected,” said USA winger Ethan Wyttenbach, who scored twice in the second period and was excellent all week. “I mean, it was a great crowd and they’re a really good hockey team. Like, we gotta give them their credit and we respect them. It’s just one of those games where you try and stick in it and then when you get your chance you gotta take advantage and I think that’s what we did and we tried to pile it on at the end.”
Why?
“We don’t like them,” the Quinnipiac star, who led the NCAA in scoring last season, said. “I mean, to be honest, like, they don’t like us, we don’t like them, it’s a pretty big rivalry. There’s respect there but when you play these games, no matter what, it’s always going to be a little chippy and a little bit more physical than maybe if we play a different team.”
Emotions boiled over near the end of the game as Reshcny and Wyttenbach, a fellow Flames prospect, went at it and received coincidental roughing minors.
“It’s just playing hockey,” Reschny said. “Any guy on their team, I would’ve done that too. It just happened to be him. I’m just playing hard. Yeah, we’re drafted to the same team and hopefully going to play for a lot of years together, but here we were on opposite teams and that’s how hockey goes.”
It was only a few weeks ago that the pair were together at Flames development camp.
“It’s just a rivalry game,” said Wyttenbach. “He’s the captain over there. He’s a really good hockey player and he’s trying to light some fire under his team so I understand why he did it. Obviously it’s funny that we’re both drafted [by the Flames] and were roommates a couple weeks ago, so it’s definitely funny. It’s bound to happen eventually. I mean, you see at the Olympics when guys go at it who are teammates, it happens. It’s a cool little rivalry and when we’re teammates it will be a different story.”
Players on both sides appreciated seeing a pair of future NHL teammates going at it at the end of a summer exhibition game.
“I didn’t really realize it was Whyts there,” said Canada defenceman Carson Carels, who was picked sixth overall by Calgary in June. “I mean, once I saw that happen I was kind of struck, but that shows the character Cole has on him and that’s why he wears that ‘C’ for us. He’s all for Canada and for our team. Whether it’s your buddy or not your buddy, he’s playing and pushing himself to the max and doing everything he can for us.”
“It just shows the way [Wyttenbach] plays and the high level of compete he has,” said centre Wyatt Cullen, who produced three points Saturday and was named Team USA’s player of the game. “It just shows that he’s such a hard worker. It’s a guy you like to look up to and try to play like. It’s pretty cool to see him competing even though it’s 7-2 and at the end of the game. You love to see it.”
Adding injury to insult, Team Canada centre Caleb Desnoyers left the game in the third period after Cullen lost an edge and fell awkwardly into him from behind.
“You never want to see something like that,” said Donskov. “I haven’t got a medical update on him yet, but hopefully he’s OK.”
“It’s kind of heart-wrenching for sure because he’s a great guy and a great player for us,” said Carels. “Just the character he has, he’s going to get through that and I think it’s nothing too, too serious and I think he’ll stay strong through that.”
Desnoyers was the fourth overall pick to the Utah Mammoth in 2025 and if he’s not in the NHL this year projects to play a key role at the World Juniors.
“I know he has a goal to make Utah this year and it’s tough to see that,” said Cootes, who made his NHL debut last season getting into three games with the Canucks. “You never want to get hurt in the summer. I hope he’s OK. I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s a tough kid. I haven’t chatted with him yet, but I’m sure he’ll be OK.”
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Team Canada lines on Saturday:
Busch - Reschny - Zhilkin
Belchetz - Malhotra - Cootes
Lombardi - Desnoyers - Martin
Harrington - Nesbitt - Roobroeck
Lawrence
Reid - Verhoeff
Carels - Rudolph
Morrison - Lin
Huang
Beckman
Ivankovic
Team USA lines on Saturday:
Berchild - Cullen - Wyttenbach
Sanderson - Rogowski - West
Plante - Nelson - Mooney
Kvasnicka - Mutryn - Mutryn
Hextall
Schock - Amico
Barnett - Bleyl
Rombach - Barnhill
Fiddler
Fetterolf
Cameron
