Misa vows to shoot more as Canada’s top line seeks offensive breakthrough

Team Canada held a media availability at its hotel on Sunday.

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Team Canada’s top-line centre is still looking to get to the top of his game.

“I’m feeling okay,” said Michael Misa, who was loaned to Hockey Canada from the San Jose Sharks for the World Juniors. “Obviously, I’d like to start producing more, but I think that’ll come with the tournament. I’m just glad I’m healthy.”

Misa missed most of November with an ankle injury and also missed the final period of Canada’s final pre-tournament game with an undisclosed lower-body issue.

“I think every game he’s going to find ways to get better,” said assistant coach Gardiner MacDougall. “He needs mileage.”

Misa sustained the ankle injury during a morning skate with the Sharks on Nov. 5 and did not return until playing twice during an American Hockey League conditioning stint on Dec. 5-6. He suited up in two pre-tournament games with Canada on Dec. 20 and 23.

MacDougall is noticing progress from Misa, who produced one goal and two assists in seven appearances with the Sharks this season.

“You can see that he’s got more speed and is handling the puck more,” MacDougall noted.

“I’m getting there,” Misa said. “I mean, I’m just happy I was able to be healthy through the first two games and continue to feel good.”

But Canada’s top line of Misa between Kelowna Rockets sniper Tij Iginla and Michigan State freshman Porter Martone is still not clicking.

“We’ve had looks in both games,” Misa pointed out. “It’s not like we don’t want to score and stuff like that. It’s a process. We got to just keep playing the right way, and it’s going to come.”

Misa picked up the primary assist on a goal by Iginla in Canada’s 7-5 win against Czechia on Friday, but was held off the scoresheet in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime win against Latvia. He has landed just three shots on net.

“I think we’re being a little bit too fancy,” Misa said. “Me, in particular, I got to shoot more.”

Misa’s only goal this season came way back on Oct. 26 at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, which is where the medal-round games will be played at the World Juniors.

Expectations are high for players who return to the junior level from the NHL. Misa is doing his best to tune that out.

“I mean, it’s not like we’re doing bad,” the second overall pick in last June’s NHL draft stressed. “We’ve won two games so far.”

With no practice on Sunday, Misa planned to unwind by catching up with his parents. Prior to the World Juniors, the last time he visited with them in person was at his NHL debut on Oct. 14.

Despite dropping a point by going to overtime with Latvia on Saturday, Canada still controls its destiny and can clinch top spot in Group B by winning its final preliminary round games against Denmark on Monday and Finland on Wednesday.

Misa picked up two primary assists in Canada’s 13-2 romp over Denmark in the final exhibition outing.

“We can’t look at our pre-tournament game and think it’s going to be easy,” Misa said. “We can’t underestimate anyone. We have to go in there with a fresh mindset and find a way to win.”

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Martone had a hearing with the IIHF disciplinary panel on Saturday morning to discuss what happened prior to the Boxing Day opener. Canada’s captain skated across the red line and bumped into a Czech player during warm-ups.

“It was definitely a long day,” said Martone, who was the sixth overall pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in last June’s draft. “Didn’t really know if you were going to play or not, and then you have a hearing and you’re good to go. It was a long day, but I was happy to go out there and fight with my team. I’ll learn from my mistakes. It won’t happen again.”

Martone sealed the win over Czechia with an empty-net goal, which represents his only point in the tournament so far. After scoring, he patted Adam Novotny on the backside as he skated by the Czech bench, which earned him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

After the game, Canada left the ice without shaking hands with the Czechs. Hockey Canada issued an apology to the IIHF and Team Czechia, calling it an “oversight.”

“You can put that on me too,” Martone said. “That’s another one of my errors. It’s probably a tough first day being a captain for me. I made a couple of mistakes, but that’s OK, you learn from it.”

“He’s good,” said head coach Dale Hunter. “Kids are kids. You just gotta go out and deal with the next day. Deal with it and move on.”

Hunter allowed his players to vote on who should be captain at the World Juniors and Martone came in first.

“We all have his back,” said Misa. “He’s going to be fine.”

“He’s doing a good job,” said left winger Gavin McKenna. “Obviously, emotions get to some people, but he’s a smart guy. There’s a reason he’s captain and we have a lot of faith in him.”

Martone captained Canada to a gold medal at the 2024 under-18 World Championship. MacDougall was the head coach of that team.

“He’s a captain for a reason,” said MacDougall. “His play on the ice, I think, but also he’s got a really good personality in the dressing room, and is vocal on the bench, that type of stuff.”

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Czechia responded to Canada’s handshake snub following their win over Denmark on Saturday night.

“They should shake our hands, but it’s not a big deal,” said Novotny. “I don’t really think about it.”

Iginla insisted that Canada’s players didn’t realize that handshakes would be taking place after games at the World Juniors.

“I don’t know if they didn’t know that, but it’s part of hockey to give the respect to the other team,” said Czech captain Petr Sikora. “At least they apologized.”

The coaches did shake hands in the bowels of the arena after the game.

“Those things happen,” said Czechia head coach Patrik Augusta. “Sometimes there are emotions. I’ve been told that they are not used to this in the CHL. I think only on the international level it’s normal, but I don’t think anything about it.”

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What did Novotny think of Martone’s tap?

“I didn’t even feel it at all to be honest,” the Peterborough Petes forward said. “Kind of a funny thing ... Probably no comment on that. I’m not going to say anything about that.”

“It was no respect,” said Sikora. “It was [their] captain, so it’s not hockey. Hockey thing is on the ice.”

Canada entered the game looking for revenge after Czechia knocked the country out of the past two World Juniors. The rivalry between the two nations is heating up.

“I love it,” said Sikora. “It’s pretty heated, as you say. It’s cool to play against these guys. We didn’t win, so I hope we get them again.”

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Canada’s second line has been its best line so far as McKenna, Michael Hage and Brady Martin continue to look dangerous.

McKenna set up Hage for the overtime winner on Saturday, which came on a 4-on-3 power play.

“He’s really smart,” Hage said. “He’s very deceptive with his eyes and his stick and I feel like, for me, it’s pretty easy to read off of. It’s fun to play on a line with him.”

McKenna, a freshman at Penn State who is projected to go first overall in the 2026 NHL draft, and Hage are tied for the team scoring lead with four points.

“Just how smart he is,” McKenna said when asked what stands out about Hage. “We read off each other [and play] give-and-go style hockey, which is a lot of fun. We’re just finding the open spots.”

“I feel like we see the game in pretty similar ways,” said Hage.

Hage is lighting up the NCAA this season with 28 points in 20 games with the University of Michigan.

“I’m confident,” the Montreal Canadiens prospect said. “I feel like it just comes from the work I tried to put in during the summer and during the year, so I feel good about my game.”

McKenna, Hage and Martin hit it off immediately, creating two goals in Canada’s opening pre-tournament game. They were split up for the second pre-tournament game, when McKenna got a look beside Misa, before quickly being reunited.

“Martin’s doing the dirty work, and getting them the puck, and then getting to those dirty areas,” observed defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson. “And McKenna and Hage are doing the show.”

https://www.tsn.ca/video/2025/12/28/we-see-the-game-in-similar-ways-mckenna-hage-chemistry-sparking-canada/

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Canada struggled to break through the stubborn Latvian defence on Saturday night.

“They’re pesky,” Martone said. “They play hard and they defend the middle.”

There was space available in the offensive zone, but not a lot of prime real estate.

“The seduction of playing a team that protects the inside,” MacDougall said with a grin.

Team Canada is playing the Toronto Blue Jays’ goal horn when they score in Minnesota, but MacDougall believes his players shouldn’t be swinging for the fences against teams like Latvia.

“The Blue Jays this year, they gave up the home run for singles, and then when they got a couple of men on base, they hit the home run,” MacDougall said. “I think last night, we could have maybe made more single plays, like, made the plays when people were open. But when you’re a skilled guy, you see the play that’s open and think, ‘Oh, that’s too easy, I’m going to make a better play,’ and sometimes the better plays are coming to the inside where they were concentrated, so you turn the puck over or you don’t advance.”

Both of Canada’s goals came on the power play against Latvia.

“They probably played their game better than the game we wanted to play,” MacDougall acknowledged. “But you find a way to be one goal better, and that’s the result, so you move on.”

But not without learning a lesson.

“We could have maybe got a little bit more to the interior at times in the offensive zone,” said defenceman Ben Danford. “Maybe get some more Grade A’s.”

“We’re probably the most skilled team here,” noted Aitcheson. “Obviously, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. We got the outcome that we wanted, but I think we definitely have another level of work that we can get to.”

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Denmark kept things close with Czechia through the first half of Saturday’s game.

“That’s a good wake-up call for us,” MacDougall said. “This team, it is the biggest game of their tournament, biggest game of their lives is playing Canada, so we have to have our group ready.”

Canada piled up the goals during the pre-tournament win against Denmark, but it was only 2-1 after the first period.

“You can beat a team 20-0, if you lose in the preliminary game what does that matter?” said Aitcheson. “We take every game like it’s our last, and we know that every game is just as important as another.”

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Every game carries extra significance for Canada’s Ethan MacKenzie, who was passed over in the last two NHL drafts.

“You always dream of getting drafted,” the Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman said. “I thought I had a pretty solid year last year and I could’ve maybe got drafted, but I didn’t end up getting picked. It was a little heartbreak right away after the draft, but it also fueled the fire to go back and work out and train all summer. It just gave me a little extra motivation to keep going and keep pushing to make this team and keep going.”

Still, MacKenzie was surprised when he got the call to join Team Canada for training camp. But now that he’s here, he’s determined to make the most of the opportunity.

“It’s the biggest stage in the world for junior hockey right now is playing here,” he said. “It’s cool to know there’s every NHL team here watching ... Coming here boosted the confidence a little bit more, just knowing I can play with all these guys and play with the best in the world. Playing here is definitely a confidence boost.”

MacKenzie certainly looked confident on Boxing Day as he scored the winning goal against Czechia.

“Honestly, I blanked out,” the 19-year-old from West Kelowna, B.C. said. “I’ve been dreaming about that since I can remember so to be able to experience that and put the puck in the net ... I don’t even know how to explain it. I couldn’t even get a smile off my face for a while.”

MacKenzie also picked up two assists against Czechia. He started Friday’s game as Canada’s seventh defenceman before moving up to the second pair beside Pittsburgh Penguin Harrison Brunicke.

MacKenzie has his parents, sister, and grandparents cheering him on in Minnesota. His billet family from Edmonton also made the trip.

“My whole billet family switched their trip from Mexico to come out here so that’s pretty cool,” he said. “When I made the team, they booked their flights on the 22nd, I think it was.”

MacKenzie has lived with Derek and Amanda Beier and their family for the last four years.

“They’re a second family to me now,” he said. “It’s been unreal. Coming in at 16 and living there is definitely a learning experience. They’ve helped me the whole time. They’ve been a huge part of my success.”

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Lines in Saturday’s game:

Iginla - Misa - Martone

McKenna - Hage - Martin

Desnoyers - Beaudoin - O’Reilly

Luchanko - Reschny - Cootes

Greentree

Reid - Parekh

MacKenzie - Brunicke

Aitcheson - Danford

Carels

Ivankovic

Ravensbergen

Scratches: Bear, Verhoeff, George