Canada dominates USA to capture gold at 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup

Canada continues their dominance at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament.

With a blowout 8-1 win over the United States in the gold medal game, Canada has secured the gold medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, their 26th in the team’s history at the tournament.

It didn’t take all that long for things to get out of hand in the game, as Brock England scored just 84 seconds into the first period, with Maddox Schultz scoring before we even reached the halfway mark of the period. England scored again later in the frame, and already Canada had a 3-0 lead in the game. Gunnar Conboy scored for the US with 97 seconds left in the first, leaving a little bit of doubt for Canada going into the first intermission.

But the dominance didn’t stop for Canada. Benhamin Veitch, Schultz and Liam Pue all scored in the second period to give Canada a commanding 6-1 lead, and Pue and Jaakko Wycisk added to the lead in the third to make the score 8-1 and put the game well out of reach.

Landon Dupont was in top form in the win with assists on four of the eight goals, while Schultz and Pue had an assist to go with their two-goal performances. Leif Oaten had a clean performance in net, stopping 16 of 17 shots for Canada, while Kaeden Tate and Mason Courville had respective .813 and .846 save percentages, although they didn’t have much help in front of them.

Earlier in the day, Finland and Slovakia played for the bronze medal, with the Finns coming out on top in a 3-2 comeback win. Finland secured their fourth bronze medal in the history of the tournament, and it was their first win since 2022, coming after two other losses in the bronze medal game in that time.

Despite the Finns outplaying Slovakia in the first period with an 11-4 shot margin, it was actually Slovakia who pulled out ahead first with early goals from Michal Lazovsky and Miroslav Kalousek. Despite the strong play overall, things weren’t looking great for Finland.

But for the rest of the game, it was all Finland. They outshot Slovakia 28-10 in the final two frames, and after Paavo Fugleberg cut the deficit in half in the second period, Luca Santala scored 34 seconds in the third to tie the game, with Roni Kuukasjarvi scoring the eventual game-winning goal on the power play.

Jakub Husar was excellent despite the loss, sporting a .923 SV% in the game, while Samuel Heikkinen was just good enough in the win, stopping 12 of 14.