Jason La Rose
Canada’s National Men's Under-18 Team is into the playoff round at the 2026 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship, taking on Sweden in the quarterfinals Wednesday at Pavol Demitra Ice Stadium.
Last Game
Canada ran its consecutive shutout streak to three on Monday, blanking Finland 7-0 in its preliminary-round finale. Gavin Betts was perfect on the 19 shots he faced, running his personal shutout streak to 133 minutes and 49 seconds (and the team’s run to 191:17), and Adam Valentini and Beckett Hamilton scored twice to pace the Canadian offence.
The Swedes closed out their prelim schedule with a 10-1 romp over Denmark on Monday. Elton Hermansson finished with two goals and four assists, Alexander Command and Marcus Nordmark also scored twice, and Sweden reached double digits despite not getting to 40 shots on goal—they finished with a 39-7 edge.
Last Meeting
The Canadians and Swedes last clashed in the gold medal game a year ago in Texas, where Canada defended its gold medal with a convincing 7-0 win. Brady Martin potted a pair of goals for the Canadians, who spread around the scoring—six players recorded goals and 14 had at least a point. Jack Ivankovic made it back-to-back shutouts in the medal round, turning aside all 28 shots he faced to help the Canadians win consecutive gold medals at U18 Men’s Worlds for the first time ever.
What to Watch
Things didn’t look good for Betts when he was helped off the ice in considerable pain early in the third period of Canada’s tournament-opening loss to Slovakia last Wednesday. But the Toronto native has bounced back from what was revealed to be severe cramping; he made 12 saves in his return to the net in an 8-0 win over Norway on Saturday before his 19-save effort against the Finns. Betts has been a workhorse wearing the Maple Leaf over the last two seasons; he played four of five games at the 2024 U17 World Challenge, backstopping Canada White to gold, and was between the pipes for four of five games at the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, helping Canada win bronze. He also didn’t take too many nights off in the Ontario Hockey League this season; Betts was 12th among OHL netminders in minutes played (2,415), and ranked among the league leaders in saves (1,080 – 11th), goals-against average (1.81 – 13th) and save percentage (.905 – 13th).
With Viggo Björck not in Slovakia due to a dispute with the federation, Hermansson is the highest-ranked Swedish skater for the 2026 NHL Draft, slotting in at No. 5 among internationals by Central Scouting. The Örnsköldsvik product opened the scoring just 32 seconds in against the Danes and exploded for a goal and three assists in a span of 7:23 to pull even with U.S. forward Wyatt Cullen for the tournament scoring lead through the preliminary round with eight points (2-6—8). Hermansson— who scored the overtime winner against the United States in the bronze medal game at the 2024 U17 World Challenge—got his first taste of professional hockey this season; he suited up for 38 games with MODO Hockey in the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish pro hockey, posting 21 points (11-10—21).
A Look Back
No country has been a more frequent foe for Canada at U18 Men’s Worlds than Sweden; this will be the 25th meeting between the longtime rivals dating back to 2003.
The Canadians have won 14 of the first 24 matchups, including three in a row. This will be the fourth meeting in a quarterfinal—Canada posted an 8-1 win in 2003 and a 5-3 victory in 2015 (thanks to three points from Mitchell Stephens), while Sweden earned a 7-3 win in 2017.
All-time record: Canada leads 14-10 (1-1 in OT) Canada goals: 101 Sweden goals: 74