Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage may not have won a gold medal with Canada at the World Junior Championship, but he comes home with a bronze medal and the tournament scoring title.
Less than 24 hours after losing in the semifinal to Czechia, Team Canada had to put its deception behind it and get ready for the Bronze Medal game, and they did so successfully. Finland put up quite a fight as the two nations traded blows in the first frame until Canada took a 3-2 lead and built on it for the rest of the game, ultimately winning 6-3. While Canadians were disappointed not to compete for gold, the bronze medal is their best finish since their gold medal in 2023.
Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage played a significant role in the win, putting up four points, all assists, two of which came on the power play. Teammate Gavin McKenna also had four points, including a goal, and skated away with the man of the match honour for Canada. It was Hage, however, who won the tournament scoring race with 15 points in seven games, one point ahead of McKenna and two ahead of blueliner Zayne Parekh, who still set a new record for a Canadian blueliner (set by Alex Pietrangelo in 2010). Parekh was one point shy of the tournament record set in 1985 by Sweden’s Peter Andersson.
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Unsurprisingly, Hage and Parekh were also named to the media all-star team alongside Anton Fondell, Vojtech Cihar, Tomas Galvas, and Love Harenstam. It was Czechia’s Cihar who captured the tournament MVP title, leading his country to a silver medal after it lost the final 4-2 to Sweden. The 18-year-old put up 12 points in seven games.
Despite the result, this was a fantastic tournament for Hage, who put up a statement performance, one year after being left out of the annual tourney by Canada. The centerman has shown outstanding leadership, skills, and talent. The Canadiens can only be happy with the performance of their 21st overall pick at the 2024 draft.
The youngster will now head back to the NCAA to finish his season with the Michigan Wolverines, and once that’s done, he’ll have a decision to make about whether or not to take the next step in his career right away. Needless to say, the Canadiens will welcome him with open arms if he does decide to go down that route.
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