2026 World Juniors: Top standouts from Canada vs. Finland
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Talk about a wild end to 2025.
Canada and Finland capped off the round-robin of the 2026 World Junior Championship with a wild 7-4 game, highlighted by six goals in the opening frame.
Canada will finish first in Group B and play Slovakia in the quarterfinals at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Finland, meanwhile, will take on USA over at the Grand Casino Arena.
The two teams traded blows early and often in this one. It all started when Zayne Parekh scored on a blistering shot, breaking Petteri Rimpinen’s shutout after just one shot. But two minutes later, Julius Miettinen did the same thing to Carter George, going top shelf at 3:54. Brady Martin scored a pair for Canada, while Oliver Suvanto and Lasse Boelius answered back for Finland to make it 3-3 after 13 minutes.
The second period was a bit less chaotic, but still had three goals. Utah Mammoth prospect Tij Iginla and Cole Beaudoin would score one each, but Roope Versterinen tallied Finland’s fourth goal to put the pressure back on the Canadians. Fortunately for the Canadian-dominated crowd at 3M, Beaudoin’s second of the night and Sam O’Reilly’s first eventually secured the 7-4 victory, giving them four straight wins in the round robin.
Here’s a look at the top performers from Tuesday’s action:
Canada
#19 Zayne Parekh, D (Calgary Flames): If you’re looking for simple, controlled hockey, Parekh isn’t for you. He’s all about creating chaos, both positive and negative for his own team. Parekh scored on the first shot of the game and then nabbed an assist on the power play. He also got scored on twice in the first – so, take your pick. Overall, he does a decent job of bouncing back from mistakes, but he needs to limit them if he’s going to be truly impactful. But, hey, that third assist? Beautiful. High-risk, high-reward all the time and that’s what we all love him.
#23 Sam O’Reilly, RW (Tampa Bay Lightning): O’Reilly came to Minnesota to block faceoffs, play a two-way game and support his linemates. But with a goal and two assists today, it was as good of a game as you could have asked for. Many believed he was only on this team because his OHL coach is Dale Hunter, but he made Hunter look smart today.
#25 Caleb Desnoyers, LW (Utah Mammoth): The more I watch Desnoyers this week, the more I like him. He’s really smart, has made some sneaky-good puck retrievals, and has become more noticeable with every game. The offense has been slow (he did get two assists tonight, though), but he has played an excellent defensive game and has been very…. is the right word “annoying”?… to anyone he goes up against.
#26 Cole Beaudoin, C (Utah Mammoth): Beaudoin really, really struggled at points in this tournament. I’m not sure I liked a single period of his before today. But he played with so much energy and it resulted in not one, but two goals and an assist. It seemed like he really understood his assignment alongside Desnoyers and Sam O’Reilly – just create distractions, and something will happen. I’m not sure how many blocks he had in this one, but he’ll be bruised tomorrow.
#28 Brady Martin, RW (Nashville Predators): Hard to beat a two-goal period. Martin loves rushing to the net, taking space away and drawing defenders away from his linemates. But, often, that results in him picking up rebounds, and that’s what happened today. Martin has an excellent shot, and is quite immovable when he’s around the crease.
#29 Michael Hage, C (Montreal Canadiens): Hage has been Canada’s best forward all tournament long, bar none. Hage had two assists in the first period, and probably should have had at least four goals in this one. He was all over the place. His big frame allows him to power through traffic and create opportunities, but I also love when he draws guys away from the middle of the ice before firing the puck toward the front.
Finland
#10 Roope Vesterinen, LW: No matter what, Vesterinen is always there. He’s small, but he might be Finland’s fastest straight-line speeder. He uses his footwork to create rushes for himself and his teammates, and it resulted in his fourth goal of the tournament. I’m not sure he’ll get drafted as a 19-year-old, but he’s making himself quite the case to, at least.
#25 Lasse Boelius, D (Anaheim Ducks): Boelius has been my favorite Finnish defender. He scored the 3-3 goal in the first period, but he also kept shutting down the likes of Hage and Gavin McKenna in transition. There isn’t much flash to his game, but it feels like he’s taking a more heads-up offensive approach by waiting for his teammates to break out of the zone into open space.
#37 Matias Vanhanen, LW: With two assists, the undrafted forward definitely made some noise. He’s a great playmaker, and it shows through in the way he continues to find high-quality opportunities for his linemates. He even got a bit chippy, too – I’m not sure a single Finnish player was involved in more scuffles today, beyond maybe Rimpinen.
#38 Oliver Suvanto, C (2026 NHL Draft): Suvanto put himself in a great scoring position for the 2-2 goal and it paid off. He also kept getting right in front of Carter George and throwing off his vision thanks to Suvanto’s big frame. I like big forwards who can score, and I love when they’re making everyone angry, too.
SPONSORED BY bet365