Canada was missing six NHLers, including the No. 3-ranked scorer and a defenseman who is likely going to win the Calder Trophy — and yet, they still won a bronze medal at the 2026 world junior championship in Minnesota.
Sometimes, it’s ok to make excuses.
Three days after losing to Czechia (again) in the semifinal of the world junior championship, no one from Hockey Canada is calling for a referendum on what needs to change in the hockey-obsessed country in order to get back to winning gold on the global stage.
No one is blaming management for picking the wrong players. No one is pointing the finger at coaches for employing the wrong systems. No one is questioning whether Canada's dominance is coming to an end.
Yes, this was the third straight year where Canada lost to Czechia. And yes, it’s been three straight years without gold. But let’s not start acting like there are issues with the national game or whether the rest of the world has caught up to Canada.
Rather, let's address the elephant in the room — or rather, elephants.
San Jose's Macklin Celebrini, who will be representing Canada at next month’s Olympics and is ranked third in NHL scoring, was young enough to play at the world juniors. So was 18-year-old New York Islanders' Matthew Schaefer, who leads NHL rookie defensemen in scoring.
Anaehim's Beckett Sennecke, Pittsburgh's Ben Kindel, Seattle's Berkley Catton and San Jose's Sam Dickinson were all eligible to play at the world juniors.
That’s six NHLers who could have represented Canada. None of them were in Minnesota for the world juniors, mostly because they were too good.
So while Canada was respectful in its post-game comments following a 6-4 loss to Czechia in the semifinal game, let’s be real. This tournament could have gone a lot differently had Canada actually sent its best players to Minnesota.
'Every Game Against Canada Is Dramatic': Czechia Eliminate Canadians From World Juniors Yet Again
Czechia played smart, and Canada "got some stupid penalties" in the renewal of one of the world juniors' thrilling new rivalries.
“I think that sometimes you just have to admit that you lost to a team that played better than you,” said Alan Millar, who in June was named by Hockey Canada as the first full-time GM of Program of Excellence. “Where they a better team than us? I don’t know. But (on Sunday), they were better than us. All the credit in the world to Czechia.”
You also have to admit that Canada was severely shorthanded.
Canadians like to joke that the country’s talent pool is so deep that you could dress two or three teams at international events and come away with three medals. But imagine going to the Olympics next month in Milan without Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Sam Reinhart, Brayden Point and Cale Makar — and expecting to win gold?
Even without Celebrini, Schaefer and many other NHLers, Canada won bronze and came within two goals of beating Czechia in the semifinals.
That's impressive. And while Canada was not the only country missing players — Finland was without Sabres' Konsta Helenius — it's also a reminder that even without its best, Canada is still heads-and-shoulders the best country in the world.
“If you look at the pool of players, you look at the balance in terms of what you need back there, that’s what we felt was the best group in the pool of players that we had," said Millar. "Would I like to have Sam Dickinson back there? I think we were really missing that No. 1 guy that you can throw on the ice for the PK or at the end of the game that can lead you out of trouble.”
Still, this wasn’t like last year’s disappointing finish in Ottawa, where Canada lost in overtime to Czechia in the quarterfinals. That loss was mostly blamed on the adults in charge, who made some controversial roster choices and coaching decisions, such as not picking Beckett Sennecke or Zayne Parekh, as well as failing to give adequate practice time to the power play.
This year, the team brought in London Knights' power duo Mark and Dale Hunter, who mostly picked a team that put an emphasis on talent and skill.
As a result, Canada scored a tournament-high 42 goals — seven more than the next-highest country. The power play went a tournament-best 12-for-24 (50%). And Canadians had three of the top scorers.
Gavin McKenna Silences Critics With Four Points In Bronze Medal Win For Canada At The World Junior Championship
TSN's director of scouting said it was a "mixed" tournament for the top draft prospect, who tied for second among Canadians with 14 points in seven games
Philadelphia Flyers prospect Porter Martone led the tournament with six goals. Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage led the tournament with 15 points. Gavin McKenna, who is likely to be a top-3 pick in this year’s draft, finished second in scoring with 14 points. Parekh, who is a Calgary Flames prospect, set a Team Canada scoring record among defenseman in a single tournament with 13 points.
“We had some guys do it in spurts,” said Millar. “But I think at the end of the day they were a good group — we had some young guys in the mix — but I’m not sure we had that true, No. 1 guy that we can rely on in certain situations. We did the best that we could.”
And yet, imagine what Canada could have achieved had they had Celebrini, Schaefer and so many other NHLers?
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.