Ethan Belchetz had three points and defensemen Keaton Verhoeff and Ryan Lin had two points each, leading Canada to a 5-3 opening-day victory over Finland at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup’s Group A in Brno, Czechia.
“I think we had a good start,” said Lin. “We were buzzing around, creating havoc on the forecheck, which is good. We got a little away from our game with the discipline part but we stayed with it, battled through some adversity. It was a good win.”
Canada struck first just 58 seconds in, with Beckham Edwards finishing the play after Mathis Preston won a battle for the puck behind the net after a Lin shoot-in.
“We wanted to establish our forecheck early so we got some pucks in and the forwards did a great job down low and Beckham was able to get one in there.” Lin described.
After the early goal, the Canadians killed off the first of five Finnish power plays and then Verhoeff made it 2-0 just shy of the nine-minute mark.
“It was a great start for us,” said Verhoeff. “On that goal, we went up the ice, I joined the rush, I think Tynan Lawrence put the puck on net, it leaked through and I was able to tap it in the back, but I think it goes to show our quick transition.”
“It was pretty fast-paced and the Canadians turned the puck pretty well,” said Finnish forward Oscar Hemming. “I think we were pretty surprised by the pace of the game at first and just got used to it, and took it to our advantage.”
Finland’s Oscar Hemming: I Have ‘A Better Hockey IQ’ Than Brother Emil
Last season, 16-year-old Oscar Hemming was the top scorer in
Finland’s top U-18 league with 63 points in 31 games for Kiekko
Espoo. He also had 19 points in 31 U-20 games. That makes him one of
the most dangerous offensive players on the Finnish team at this
year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup and he demonstrated that in the team’s
opener against Canada, <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/international/latest-news/canada-edges-finland-sweden-wins-big-in-hlinka-gretzky-cup-openers">recording a goal and an assist in the team’s
5-3 loss</a>.
The Finns battled back with a pair of goals late in the first period to tie the score. Hemming got Finland on the board by going to the net and tapping in a centering feed from Oliver Suvanto.
“Suvanto’s a big guy and I knew he was going to rush the net,” Hemming smiled. “It was basically a 2-on-2 and I went to the back post and screamed as hard as I could and then he passed to me. An easy goal.”
Jiko Laitinen tied it for Finland in the last minute of the first period, and then the Canadians dominated most of the second, outshooting the Finns 13-6. However, they didn’t manage to regain the lead until they got a last-minute goal of their own. This time it was Lin, joining the rush to make it a 3-on-2 and one-timing a cross pass from Adam Valentini.
“It’s been something I’ve been working on, when to join and when to maybe stay back, but I’ve been trying to join more and create more offensively, and be that offensive driver, so it was nice to get one there,” Lin said about joining the rush.
Finland’s Roster For 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
Finland’s roster for this summer’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup does not feature any returnees from last year’s team but two defensemen played at
the IIHF U-18 World Championships: Juho Piiparinen and Samu Alalauri.
As well, Max Laatikainen played some games with the U-18 national
team last season.
Canada went back up by two with just under 12 minutes remaining, with Verhoeff starting another play in his own zone that was finished on a great individual effort by Dimian Zhilkin.
“It was the end of the shift there and I saw Zhilkin going down the right side,” said Verhoeff. “Great play by him. He comes down the wall at a tight angle and finds a way to put it in the net. It’s an unreal play – not many people can find a way to score from there so it’s pretty impressive.”
The Finns didn’t manage to score a power-play goal but just three seconds after Cameron Chartrand’s minor ended, Vilho Vanhatalo one-timed a pass from Max Laatikainen that beat Gavin Betts to the glove side with just 3:45 remaining to make it a one-goal game again.
“We need to get the first two or three passes to calm down a bit and I think it will start falling (into place) after that,” Hemming said about improving the Finnish power play.
Canada’s 25-Man Roster For 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
The
perennial powerhouse of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Canada will once
again bring a formidable roster to the 2025 edition of the annual
U-18 summer tournament, which runs Aug. 11 to 16 in Brno, Czechia and
Trenčín,
Slovakia.
“I loved our composure,” said coach Mathieu Turcotte. “I thought we faced a lot of adversary today and the composure the guys showed was really great. A few of our guys got banged up there but I felt that we stayed on task. Obviously, it wasn’t perfect but it was the first game of the tournament and we found a way to win.”
“We need to clean up some of our D-zone stuff, manage the puck and be more disciplined – we can’t take so many penalties,” said Lin. “But our PK was great today, we’re going to watch some video and get ready for our next game.”
“It’s good to get the first one under our belt,” said Verhoeff. “It was a good starting point for us. Our motto is to get better each day. I know we’re happy with the win and we’ll continue to build on it.”
Other games
In the other group in Trenčín, the game between Sweden and Germany wasn’t nearly as dramatic, with the Swedes running away with a 10-0 victory. Marcus Nordmark, Henry Nicolaysen, Mikael Kim and Axel Elofsson led the offense with four points each and Milo Tjärnlund made 20 saves for the shutout.
Venues, Schedule For 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
The Czech Ice Hockey Association and Hockey Slovakia jointly
announced this week the <a href="https://hlinkagretzkycup.cz/eng/zapasy.asp">schedule for the 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup</a> –
an annual summer tournament for players entering their final U18
season.