Through two periods of their game against Switzerland at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Canada had outshot Switzerland 32-8 but led only 1-0. Defenseman Landon DuPont, the youngest player on the team, led the team with over 18 minutes of ice time and six shots on goal. He had also assisted on Dimian Zhilkin’s lone goal.
“We came out flying,” said DuPont. “We had a strong start and just carried that through the second but couldn’t get past the goalie. At the start of the third, we really put an emphasis on getting to the front of the net and just getting some traffic on the goalie, making it tough for him.
“Then obviously, in the third, we got a couple and then they just kept coming for us.”
In fact, Canada poured in eight goals in the third period to comfortably win 9-1. For DuPont, it was a special game as he had lived in Switzerland as a child while his father, defenseman Micki DuPont, played in that country’s National League for Zug and Kloten.
“It’s pretty cool – this is the first time I’ve really played against them,” he said. “It was pretty cool seeing some familiar faces that I grew up with.”
Canada And Sweden Remain Group Front-Runners With Second Straight Wins
To lead off Day 2 of the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Canada and Sweden
stayed perfect. In Brno, Canada beat Switzerland 9-1 in a game that
was 1-0 after two periods and Sweden overcame a 3-1 deficit against
the USA and won 5-3 in Trenčín.
DuPont then noted that he had played with Yanis Lutz, who scored the lone Swiss goal in the game and will play in the OHL for the Peterborough Petes in the upcoming season.
The senior DuPont, who had some stints in the NHL for the Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues, also had a couple of tours of duty in Germany for Eisbären Berlin, where Landon also played youth hockey and learned the life of a pro hockey player.
“He’s a huge role model of mine,” DuPont said of his father. “Growing up watching him and having him as a resource to get better and learn from him. Obviously, he went through it all, so just learning from his experiences.”
DuPont is just coming off his first season in the WHL, which really couldn’t have gone any better. As a 15-year-old with the Everett Silvertips, he recorded 60 points in 64 regular-season games and then added 15 points in 10 playoff games. He walked away with the rookie-of-the-year and defenseman-of-the-year awards for both the WHL and the CHL.
“I was pretty lucky to go to such a great organization in Everett,” said DuPont. “We had a really good team this year and it was a blast. Our coaching staff and our teammates were phenomenal. I got pretty lucky with them.”
DuPont was the youngest player on the Silvertips and he’s the only 2009-born player on this Canadian team, so that’s something he’s used to and also something he tries to take advantage of.
“Playing up with the older guys is awesome,” he said. “It pushes me on and off the ice, making those friendships and, like I said, just learning from them.”
Unlike most of the players on this team, DuPont is still two seasons away from his draft year, where he’s currently projected to be one of the top picks of the 2027 NHL Entry Draft. He’s also eligible to play in another Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
“Hopefully, next year, I can come back to this tournament and have that extra experience that I can use for me.”
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.