Canada returnees determined to ‘be better’ at 2026 World Junior Championship

MINNEAPOLIS -- Anger has turned to determination for the eight Canada players who attended this week's World Junior Summer Showcase after playing at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.

For forwards Gavin McKenna (2026 draft eligible), Porter Martone (Philadelphia Flyers), Berkly Catton (Seattle Kraken) and Cole Beaudoin (Utah Mammoth), defensemen Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders) and Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks), and goalies Carter George (Los Angeles Kings) and Jack Ivankovic (Nashville Predators), the emotions have run the gamut in the nearly seven months since their 4-3 loss to Czechia in the quarterfinals of the 2025 WJC in Ottawa.

They have their sights set on changing the narrative for the 2026 WJC, which will be played in Minnesota from Dec. 26-Jan. 5, 2026.

"After the tournament, it was obviously anger," said McKenna, who scored one goal in five games as Canada's youngest player and is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft. "There was a lot of emotions. But now I think it's, we want to do it for the country. Canada should never finish fifth place two years in a row. We're doing it for the country. It's not just for us. We want to be the team to win it and kind of get Canada back on track."

Back-to-back quarterfinal-round losses are almost unprecedented for Canada. Since the tournament began in 1977, only two other times has Canada gone consecutive tournaments without a medal: fourth-place finishes in 2013 and 2014, and three straight years without a medal from 1979-81.

That latter run of futility ended with Canada winning its first World Juniors gold medal in 1982. That also happened to be the last time the tournament was played entirely in Minnesota (the 2005 WJC had games in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Thief River Falls, Minnesota).

"Obviously we all know what happened last year, and we all weren't very happy with the results," said George, who had a .936 save percentage and two shutouts in four games last year but allowed the go-ahead goal to Czechia forward Adam Jecho (St. Louis Blues) with 40 seconds left in the third period in the quarterfinal loss. "So even at the summer showcase it still gets brought up, and you kind of carry that motivation to here. I know us as a group, we learn from it for sure, and moving forward be better from it. Next year it's going to be a different story, we think."

The first chapter of that story played out during the early part of the WJSS, with two days of practice and then all eight returnees getting a chance to play either an intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday or a 6-3 loss to Finland on Wednesday, with several playing both games.

The returnees were sent home Thursday but made sure the newer players understand what's needed to have success.

"We didn't finish where we wanted last year, and they were the big part of it, and it hurts," Canada coach Dale Hunter said. "They just said it's not fun not winning. So they set the tone. They're great leaders."

Martone, who scored one goal in three games last year, said he wants to be at the front of that line of leaders for the 2026 WJC.

"Me being one of the returnees, I think I could take a big leadership role this year," he said. "I'm just going to come here and lead by example. Just go on the ice and really put in my best effort and I think that could be contagious, and everyone could follow along. We can really go and do some damage come Christmas time."

The summer showcase is the first step toward creating that damage, and it began with players old and new looking to make a good first impression on Hunter and his staff as well as Mark Hunter, who is leading the management group.

"I don’t know if anger is the right word, but there’s a lot of passion I think coming from last year," said Dickinson, who had two assists in five games and averaged 19:27 of ice time, most among the returning skaters. "Just wanting to do better, wanting to be better as a team. Being a returning guy, I kind of carry that a little more."

It's something they'll all carry until they get a chance at redemption in December.

"Last year didn't end how we wanted," Martone said. "The year before didn't end how they wanted. So for us, those were learning experiences. You take everything from that tournament. I think we're going to attack this tournament. But we're going to attack it with a goal in mind, and that's to bring Canada back on top.

"Yeah, it was tough showings there. But [it was] a learning experience, and we come with a fresh mind come December time. I think we've got the personnel from the hockey standpoint and the management standpoint and coaches to really bring the gold medal back to Canada."

NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report