Team Canada revealed its goal song for the 2026 World Junior Championship during pre-tournament action on Wednesday. They chose Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) by famous Canadian band, The Tragically Hip. Canada opened their pre-tournament exhibitions in Kitchener, Ont., against Sweden on Wednesday. With Gavin McKenna surrounded by three Swedish opponents, he fed a cross-ice pass to Brady Martin, who wired a one-timer past goaltender Herman Liv. Courage played on the speakers shortly afterward. This is Canada's fifth different goal song in as many tournaments. In 2025, it was Live is Life by Opus. Before that, it was Ordinary Day by Great Big Sea in 2024, Heave Away by Fables in 2023 and Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers during the rescheduled summertime 2022 world juniors. The Canadians are looking to reclaim the world juniors title after Team USA was crowned champions in back-to-back years. The Americans rallied around their own goal song from last year as they captured gold in Ottawa: Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The goal song was so popular with American fans and players that USA Hockey used it for the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. Reacting To Hockey Canada's 2026 World Juniors Camp Roster [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/287e2cb9-2da6-4c8f-82c8-8ee584ff31aa.jpeg] Reacting To Hockey Canada's 2026 World Juniors Camp Roster Hockey Canada named 27 players to its world juniors camp roster on Monday, with Sharks, Flames and Penguins players getting loaned to the national squad. [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/reacting-to-hockey-canada-s-2026-world-juniors-camp-roster] Canadian fans will hope that Courage brings good luck and great memories to the 2026 World Junior Championship in enemy territory. The Americans host the tournament this time in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. While the pre-tournament is officially underway, the first game of the round-robin stage kicks off on Boxing Day, Dec. 26. The opening game of the tournament is between Slovakia and Sweden at 1 p.m. ET in St. Paul at Grand Casino Arena, the home of the Minnesota Wild [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild]. Canada opens their campaign later in the day at 8:30 p.m. ET. They take on Czechia at the 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, the home venue of the NCAA [https://thehockeynews.com/ncaa]'s Minnesota Golden Gophers. MORE FACTS ABOUT CANADA'S GOAL SONG * Courage was dedicated to Hugh MacLennan, a Canadian author who was made a companion of the Order of Canada in 1967 for his contribution to Canadian literature, particularly in regard to Franco-English relations. He was an early author to incorporate Canadiana and his homeland into his work, according to the CBC. His book, The Watch That Ends The Night, inspired the song. * The song was released as a single from the Tragically Hip's third album, Fully Completely. The album sold 200,000 copies within five weeks of its release, and the band won a Juno Award for Canadian entertainer of the year the following year, per the CBC. Correction: the 2022 summer world juniors goal song was Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hey Baby by DJ Otzi was played at the 2022 winter world juniors, which were cut short by COVID-19 and rescheduled for the summer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/e82c7824-8be3-4647-a82e-a96a4d24c7e3.png] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
