U-17 World Hockey Challenge Roundup: Canada Red, Black and USA win on Day 3
Canada Red shuts out Czechia for first victory
Canada Red has taken its first win of the tournament after beating Czechia 3-0.
Czechia sits at 0-2 after losing 7-1 to USA on Friday evening.
The Canadiens struck gold on the team’s first power-play chance. At 5:51, with Jakub Fibigr in the box, Michael Misa took Porter Martone’s feed and fired it past a sprawling Adam Ebenstreit for the 1-0 goal.
The score remained stagnant until 28:22 when Carson Wetsch capitalized on Gabriel Frasca’s feed, making it 2-0. Nathan Villeneuve capped off the second period scoring after Wetsch found him in the slot, with Villeneuve making a quick move on Ebenstreit to make it 3-0 – a score that remained the same until the final buzzer.
Canada Black wins spirited battle against Canada White
Canada Black has improved to 2-1 after beating Canada White 5-3 on Saturday evening.
Canada White now moves to 0-2 after losing 3-2 to Sweden and will look to rebound against Canada Red in Sunday’s lone game action in Langley.
Canada Black struck first at the 2:28 mark. Justin Poirier used the extra space while waiting for White’s Jaxsin Vaughan to get back into the play and found Jordan Gavin. Gavin fired in a one-timer and beat Madden Mulawka for the 1-0 goal.
The lead lasted less than three minutes until Frankie Marrelli found Herny Mews all alone, with Mews sending a wrister overtop of Louka Cloutier.
White eventually took the lead at 11:38. Tristen Doyle picked up a rebound off the post and shot it into a seemingly empty net, just getting the puck past a Black defender.
That advantage didn’t last long, though. Lynden Lakovic scored at 14:58 after an excellent passing play by Cole Beaudoin and Cole Peardon, and Peardon scored one of his own in the dying minutes to give Black its lead back.
Zayne Parekh scored his third goal of the tournament on the power play at the halfway mark of the third to make it a three-goal lead, one that gave Canada Black some breathing room late. Roger McQueen scored off a tip in front under a minute later, but the damage had already been done as Canada Black soared to victory.
Second-period smackdown gives USA win over Sweden
USA continued their dominance at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge with an 8-3 victory over Sweden.
The Americans have the best goal differential with a 20-7 run so far. James Hagens (nine points), Cole Eiserman (eight), Cole Hutson (five) and Max Plante (five) are the top four scorers.
Despite the eventual loss, it didn’t take long for the Swedes to strike first. Just 21 seconds in, Melvin Fernstrom beat USA’s Nick Kempf with a simple wrister to make it 1-0 – a surprising start for the Americans.
That lead lasted until the 7:56 mark after Max Plante found Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen waiting around for the pass, making no mistake on the ensuing shot. Mans Toresson got Sweden’s lead back at 11:46, but Cole Eiserman’s sixth goal in three games tied things up at 17:26.
The second period was dominated entirely by the Americans, who took a 6-2 advantage. It all started at 26:04 when EJ Emery scored off of a Christian Humphreys feed. Two minutes later, Shane Vansaghi scored to make it a two-goal game before Charlie Pardue made it 5-2. Humphreys’ power-play goal at 18:10 closed out the period, putting Sweden behind by four.
The Swedes wouldn’t go down without a fight. At 47:35, Viggo Nordlund scored on an open cage from an Alexander Zetterberg pass to make it 6-3. But goals from Pardue and Eiserman helped continue the American onslaught, finishing the game at 8-3.
Three Stars
- Cole Eiserman, F (USA): Because who else? He’s now up to seven goals with a two-marker night, and would have had a third had he not had a goal waved off due to the buzzer at the end of the first.
- James Hagens, F (USA): Another masterful performance from one of the best playmakers from the 2025 NHL Draft class. Hagens had three assists, including one on the game-tying goal to close out the first period. He now sits first in tournament scoring with nine.
- Chase Wutzke, G (Canada Red): It wasn’t the busiest night for Wutzke, but he stopped all 24 shots sent his way to secure the shutout.