Jason LaRose
Preliminary-round play at the 2025 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship continues Sunday as Canada’s National Men's Under-18 Team faces off against Finland in its third of four prelim contests.
Last Game
Canada made it two wins from as many games Friday with
a comfortable 7-1 win over Latvia. Ryan Roobroeck scored twice, while Lev Katzin and Alessandro Di Iorio
chipped in with a goal and an assist each. The Canadians continued to get
offence from the back end, with defencemen Jackson Smith, Xavier Villeneuve
and Carson Carels contributing goals (more on that below).
The Finns flxed a little offensive muscle of their own against the Latvians, posting a 10-2 victory on Saturday afternoon. Max Westergård and Eetu Orpana led the charge with a goal and three assists each for Finland, with all of Orpana’s scoring coming in a six-goal first period. In all, 15 Finns recorded at least a point as they improved to 2-1.
Last Meeting
You have to go all the way back to the quarterfinals of the 2022 U18 Men’s Worlds to find the last meeting between the Canadians and Finns. Connor Bedard was the star for Canada in that one (as he usually is when wearing the Maple Leaf), scoring a pair of goals, and Adam Fantilli added two assists, but future Nashville Predators first-rounder Joakim Kemell finished his hat trick in overtime to eliminate the Canadians, 6-5.
The last matchup at the U18 level at any event was the prelim opener at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Berkly Catton had a goal and two assists to pace the offence, but a wild six-goal third period left the Canadians on the wrong side of a 9-6 final score.
What to Watch
Let’s turn our attention to the blue line, and while Canada has been solid on the defensive end, allowing only three goals in two games, we’re more interested in the offensive exploits. Already, five of the six Canadian defencemen – Smith, Villeneuve, Carels, Ryan Lin and Quinn Beauchesne – have found the back of the net, and the sextet (also including Alex Huang) has combined for 12 points. And there’s more talent coming! Two of Canada’s highly touted 2008-born blue-liners, Daxon Rudolph and Keaton Verhoeff, have yet to debut in the tournament; that duo combined for 86 points during the regular season with the Prince Albert Raiders and Victoria Royals, respectively, and were good for 22 points in as many playoff games.
The Finnish roster includes a handful of players on the final International Skater rankings from NHL Central Scouting, including two – Lasse Boelius (12) and Atte Joki (23) – in the top 25. Boelius, who got into seven games with Ässät Pori in the Liiga, the top men’s league in Finland, this season, has been as advertised on defence, contributing a goal and three assists in three games. Joki is a rare forward leading his team in ice time, playing 18:50 per game (only one other Finn is north of 17 minutes), but the offensive numbers aren’t there; the Lukko Rauma product has yet to record a point and is a -1 despite his team scoring 17 goals in its last two games.
A Look Back
While it has been three years since they’ve met at U18 Men’s Worlds, the Canadians and Finns certainly aren’t strangers to each other. This will be their 14th meeting at the tournament, with Canada earning seven wins against six losses and a tie.
Canada and Finland have met twice for the bronze medal; the Finns earned a 6-5 shootout win in the third-place game in 2009, and Hunter Shinkaruk was the overtime hero to give Canada the bronze three years later.
All-time record: Canada leads 7-6-1 (1-3 in OT/SO) Canada goals: 43 Finland goals: 43