WINDSOR – It may be a mid-summer exhibition event, but Team Canada is determined to rack up wins at the World Junior Summer Showcase.
“It’s our main focus,” said University of North Dakota centre Cole Reschny, who is a Calgary Flames prospect. “Obviously we weren’t happy with last year’s summer camp and then last year’s result at the World Juniors so it’s a whole different mindset here this year. We’re here to win.”
Canada will play Sweden on Wednesday night at the WFCU Centre, which is home to the Windsor Spitfires, before facing Finland and the United States on Thursday and Saturday.
Canada suffered lopsided losses to Finland and Sweden last summer before ending the annual four-nation affair with a win against the United States.
At the 2026 World Juniors, Canada lost to Czechia in the semifinals before beating Finland to claim the bronze medal.
“This isn’t just a summer camp where we’re getting to know guys,” said Reschny, who is one of eight returning Canadian players in Windsor. “We’re coming in and we’re getting to know each other but, at the same time, we’re competing and we’re battling.”
Canada lost in the quarter-finals at the 2024 and 2025 World Juniors, which means it’s been three years since the country last competed in the gold-medal game. It’s only the second time Canada has experienced a drought this long since the Program of Excellence was established by Hockey Canada in 1982. The country also went three years without a championship game appearance from 2012 to 2014.
For Canadian players and executives, enough is enough. Things have to change and it starts now.
“Last year we weren’t real thrilled with the way everything played out [at the summer camp],” said general manager Alan Millar. “Part of that was not really on anybody, but I think we had eight or nine players not available because of injury.”
Eight players who were invited to the summer camp were unable to attend last year, including six players who eventually made the team in December.
Last year’s summer roster featured 42 players and the camp started with an intra-squad game. The returning players, including 2025 first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, were sent home before the final two games so management could focus on the players they did not know as well.
“It just didn’t feel like a competitive camp,” Millar recalled. “It didn’t feel that it was taken as seriously as it needed to be and I think a lot of that was because a lot of our top players weren’t there.”
There is no intra-squad game this year in Windsor and every returnee is staying for every game.
There were only 32 players invited to the summer camp this year and the total actually fell to 31 after defenceman Xavier Villeneuve (hip) was a late scratch.
“Within our programs we’re trying to focus on more preparation over more player evaluations and more selection,” Millar said. “We feel we spend a lot of time trying to figure out who the seventh, eight defenceman is and the 13th, 14th forward when we should be spending time on special teams and our team game and the players who are going to help us win a tournament. So, that was part of the changes and we’ve had a few changes since the past year because we need to be better.”
Canada is looking to set the tone immediately against Sweden, the defending champions, on Wednesday night.
“We’re going to go back to the old Canadian style where we’re mean to play against,” said Kitchener Rangers defenceman Cameron Reid, who is among the three Canadian returnees on defence. “We want to be a team that other teams are afraid to play against or don’t want to play against.”
“We just got to get back [to] Canadian hockey and the Canadian way,” said defenceman Carson Carels, who went sixth overall to the Flames in June and is heading to North Dakota this fall. “I think just that hard-hitting and run-the-other-team-out-of-the-building [approach] ... We gotta bring that and that’s the culture the coaches want.”
Carels, who played for the Prince George Cougars last season, likes to throw his weight around and felt a surge of excitement when head coach Misha Donskov unveiled plans for the team’s identity early in camp.
“In the meeting my legs couldn’t stop shaking just hearing that,” he said. “I was just really ready to get out there. Obviously we got a few days here to prep, but just hearing that in the meeting you want to go and play those games and kind of strike that fear already in summer and send a message now and [not] wait till Boxing Day.”
The returning players, who suffered a heartbreaking loss to Czechia in the semifinals, are eager to unleash some aggression on the road to redemption.
“You’re not really over it until you get another opportunity,” said Reschny.
“Definitely very frustrating losing in the semifinals,” said Soo Greyhounds forward Brady Martin, who produced eight points in six games in Minnesota. “But it’s a good lesson for me and a couple of the guys here. It’s time to turn it around and go win a gold medal.”
