Canada, United States to meet in IIHF World Championship quarterfinals
It’ll be a rematch of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games gold medal match in the quarterfinals of this year’s IIHF World Championship in Switzerland.
Canada will face the United States on Thursday with a trip to the tournament semifinals on the line. It will be the first meeting between the men’s programs since the Americans won Olympic gold over the Canadians in February.
With many National Hockey League stars not taking part in this year’s men’s worlds, the two rosters that will skate in Thursday’s contest will look significantly different than those that played in Milan. The Canadian roster still features two of its Olympic headliners, though: 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini and 38-year-old Sidney Crosby.
Crosby and Celebrini, who played together at last year’s men’s worlds, connected for two of Canada’s goals in a 3-2 win over Czechia on Tuesday, the final day of the preliminary round. John Tavares scored the game-winner at 9:25 of the third period.
With the win, Canada enters the playoff round with a 7-0-0 record, placing them first in Group B.
Team Canada is well aware that a strong showing in the preliminary round of the tournament will only get you so far. After going 6-0-1 at last year’s event, the Canadians were upset in the quarterfinals – a result they’ll look to improve upon Thursday.
Canada edged Sweden 5-3 in their opening game of the tournament on May 15. They followed that up with a 6-0 win over Italy and a 5-1 victory over Denmark.
Canada’s lone blemish came on May 21 when they needed overtime to defeat Norway 6-5 – a game that saw the Canadians rally back from multiple deficits and had Mark Scheifele score the winner. Overtime wins are only worth two points while regulation victories earn three.
The scare against the Norwegians didn’t seem to harm the Canadians as they won their final three games: 3-1 over Slovenia, 5-1 over Slovakia and 3-2 over Czechia.
Team Canada is looking to win their first medal at men’s worlds since 2023 when they captured gold. The Canadians finished fifth at last year’s tournament after falling to Denmark in the quarterfinals. The year prior, Canada lost to Sweden in the bronze medal game.
While the last couple years have not gone Canada’s way, it’s been a strong decade for the country at the tournament. Canada has played in the gold medal game seven times since 2015 and, prior to last year’s quarterfinal loss, had qualified for the semifinals every year since then.
Canada will now face an American squad that finished 4-3-0 in the preliminary round. The United States are defending gold medalists having won their first world title since 1960 last year.
The semifinals will take place Saturday, May 30 while the gold and bronze medal matches will be held on Sunday, May 31.
