Canada’s start to the 2026 World Juniors has been underwhelming

Team Canada has not lived up to the level many would have hoped for at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, despite winning their first two games against Czechia and Latvia on back-to-back days. 

While the 7-5 win against Czechia gave Canada the full three points, they needed overtime to squeak past Latvia with a 2-1 victory, earning just two points in the process. 

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton broke down whether the tournament has been underwhelming from a Canadian perspective so far. 

Yaremchuk: I think it’s safe to say, even though they’ve won both games, it’s been a disappointing start to the tournament. You lose out on the extra point against Latvia and only beat them by one, and you need this crazy third period to get a win over Czechia. It’s a weird start and they don’t look as well polished as I’d kind of hope they’d be.

Hutton: It’s just been like a lack of getting to their game, right? I feel like their back end at times is they’re super mobile and it just doesn’t seem like that stabilizing powerhouse that we’re used to.

With the Czech game, I thought it was sloppy. Carter George, I didn’t think had the greatest game, but I also thought he was hung out to dry a few times. Then you go to the Latvia game, a game where, in my personal opinion, after the way that the check game went down with Czech with Porter Martone and all the hoopla of not shaking hands, I felt like they answered the bell. I know Steven Ellis kind of prepared us for Latvia and the way they were going to play, and he was bang on with his analysis of they were going to defend first and not try to beat themselves. 

As a team, I just think they never really got to the hard areas. This isn’t a Canadian team that I think we’re used to seeing where they’re going to make other teams pay at this point. I hope their game can get going, because right now it’s been a little bit of an audition, like it just hasn’t been, I guess it hasn’t had that galvanizing moment for a World Junior team. You have to get to it fast. 

I don’t think Dale Hunter is going to let off the gas with these guys. I think that’s something that’s important with this team. He’s used to dealing with this age group, with the London Knights and these younger players, but they need to answer the bell. Because right now, what I’ve seen from Sweden, Finland and Team USA, I would put all those teams above what we’ve seen from Team Canada. 

You can catch the rest of the segment and Monday’s entire episode of DFO Live here…