Canada’s World Junior loss to Latvia highlighted team’s glaring weaknesses
OTTAWA – There likely wasn’t a single person who thought Latvia was going to put up a fight against Canada at the World Juniors on Friday.
If everything had gone as planned, Canada would have cruised to an easy victory, just like they had in all four previous meetings between them. Canada had outscored Latvia 40-4, including a 10-goal outburst a year ago. They even smashed Finland 4-0 in the opening game, and hadn’t lost a single game since the start of selection camp.
You could have easily assumed history would repeat itself. But there’s a saying about people who assume.
On paper, Latvia’s 3-2 victory over Canada should have never happened. Canada has 10 first-round picks on their roster, plus two expected to challenge for the top spot in 2025 and the undisputed top prospect for 2026. Latvia has drafted prospects, period – Washington’s Eriks Mateiko, a third-rounder in 2024; and Anaheim’s Darels Uljanskis, a seventh-rounder last June. The hero of the night, Linards Feldbergs, has never been Latvia’s starter at any tournament. Last night was his first IIHF game win, period.
The shots were lopsided in Canada’s favor at 57-27, as well. But two things happened on Friday: Feldbergs played the game of his life, and Canada kept shooting from the perimeter. For as good as Feldbergs was – and not to take away from the greatest game he has ever played – Canada didn’t test him as they should have.
It’s still too early – 24 hours prior to the loss, all the talk was about how Canada shut down the Finns in style. But some scouts think the win – plus the late-game surges against Czechia and Sweden in the pre-tournament – have just hid underlying issues, such as an inability to have all four lines thriving at any given time.
One NHL scout called Canada the most skilled team at the tournament, but “they’re skating like they are chickens with their heads chopped off. They’re so disjointed and all over the place trying to be the hero.” That’s quite spot on.
There’s so much to critique about Canada’s performance – and it’s nothing new, either. Canada’s power play was a mess, especially after Matthew Schaefer went down with what could be a big-time injury. There have been many odd lineup decisions, too. And that’s not including which guys they decided to leave off the team in the first place.
Canada has one powerplay goal on seven attempts through two games. With their abundance of talent, they shouldn’t have issues in that department. They seem to be lacking a one-shot specialist – someone who could easily fire off a one-timer. That’s how Cal Ritchie scored on Friday, but they need more of it – much more. Do you know who would have thrived there? Michael Misa, the OHL’s leading goal-scorer. But he wasn’t even invited to camp.
But Carson Rehkopf was, and he’s been watching from the press box the past two nights. That has to change against Germany on Sunday – he’s the most dangerous scoring weapon they have.
Canada has been solid on the penalty kill, killing 10 of their 12 penalties so far – but that’s another problem on its own, given both of Latvia’s goals in regulation came on the man advantage in the final seven minutes. Canada is lucky Finland’s power play seemingly fell asleep in the opening game because that night could have gone much, much differently.
Would it kill the coaching staff to try Sam Dickinson on the power play? He has nine goals and 10 assists in 26 games on the power play alone. How is someone who can dictate the game so effectively in open space not getting the chance to show what makes him so dominant? Oliver Bonk doesn’t play the quarterback spot on the London Knights, but Dickinson does.
There’s no logical reason why Dickinson isn’t playing a bigger role on this team. Coach Cameron should know that – he watched Dickinson score two goals and five points – including three power-power play points – against the Ottawa 67’s earlier this month.
Canada’s approach to this tournament was deep and heavily crafted. They took part in the World Junior Summer Showcase for the first time since before the COVID-19 era. Dave Cameron – the guy who led them to gold in 2022 and who was apart of the staff when they won it the last time it was in Ottawa – was named coach. They played three pre-tournament games to get the chemistry set.
Canada loses to Latvia and loses Matthew Schaefer. Brutal day for this team.
— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) December 28, 2024In theory, this group shouldn’t struggle to produce. Easton Cowan entered the tournament on a 56-game point streak. Cal Ritchie, Jett Luchanko and Bradly Nadeau all have NHL experience. Gavin McKenna hasn’t played a WHL game in weeks, and he’s still leading the league in scoring.
Yet, they look like a mess. They’re dominating the shot count every time they hit the ice, but the high-danger chances aren’t there.
Nobody has more than two points. Berkly Catton, Brayden Yager and Bradly Nadeau – all of whom were expected to be major parts of this team – have yet to register a point. This is the same issue we saw last year when the guys Canada was counting on just didn’t show up. And if Schaefer is indeed done for the tournament, who fills his role? Canada tried multiple options on the top power-play unit and nothing seemed to work, especially when Bonk was leading the charge. This is where someone like Zayne Parekh would have come in handy as an extra defenseman, even though he had a rough selection camp.
Canada brought who they brought, and while there were some notable omissions, every single roster selection could be justified in some way at the time. Those other guys aren’t in Ottawa, and Canada has to live with that, win or lose.
Here are some of the issues we’re seeing:
- A brutal power play.
- Lack of scoring for a team with plenty of goal-scorers.
- They’re playing too much at the perimeter.
- Cameron isn’t aggressively shaking up the lines enough when things aren’t clicking.
Here’s how I’d tackle some of that:
- Sit Mathieu Cataford and bring in Rehkopf. Get him in an open space on the top power-play unit.
- Ride Carter George until the very end.
- Get Gavin McKenna and Porter Martone together. Neither seems to be jiving in their current assignments; let them find the magic from the U-18 World Championship, where they put on a near-historic performance together.
- Don’t make Bonk the PP1 QB.
- But do make Sam Dickinson the PP1 QB.
And most importantly, use Friday as motivation. Make Friday’s result bulletin board material. Canada has too much individual skill to fall flat – right now, it’s about fusing it together into something tangible and dangerous. Canada is getting plenty of shots on net, but not enough to be truly afraid of them right now. The pre-tournament game against Czechia was an excellent example of that.
Fans will over-react and dissect this game to death until Canada gives them a reason not to. And that’s fine – heck, this analysis is probably a bit over the top for a game in which Canada dominated puck possession. But Canada can’t underestimate any opponent moving forward – not Germany, not whoever they face in the quarterfinal, and definitely not the United States. The stark reality is that Canada will need some help to win Group A and maximize the best matchup in the playoff round.
There are a lot of players on this team that know how to win. Seven of them won gold at the U-18 World Championship back in May. Three of them – including 2026 draft phenom Gavin McKenna – won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup a few months back. Molding all that together to build a successful unit at a tournament like this is another story, though.
There’s no more room for error. There’s no more time for getting complacent. If Canada truly wants gold on home ice, things need to start clicking – and quickly. It doesn’t get easier from here.
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