Canada has no one to blame but themselves for 2025 World Junior failure

OTTAWA – Minutes after Canada’s 4-3 quarterfinal loss to Czechia at the World Junior Championship on Thursday, coach Dave Cameron was asked if he had any regrets as to how the tournament played out.

After a brief pause, he simply stated, “No.”

Just let that sink in a little bit.

Is it too early to call this the most disappointing World Junior Championship Canada has ever had? They finished fifth for the second year in a row for just the first time since 1979 and 1980. It’s not their worst finish ever – they came eighth in 1998 after losing 6-3 to Kazakhstan, who hasn’t come close to beating Canada again since.

But with the tournament being on home ice, and featuring a roster with 10 first-round picks and potentially the first selection in each of the next two drafts, this has to go down as one of Canada’s most disastrous results in tournament history.

Canada’s team is built up of winners – guys that have won at the U-17 and U-18 level before. In some cases, players have multiple titles to their credit. You’ve got a mix of league champions and MVPs, too. By all accounts, this team should have had little difficulty cruising throughout most of the tournament and challenged for gold like they’ve done more than any other country.

But they didn’t play like winners. They made countless unforced errors; big-time players didn’t play like big-time players, and penalty issues ultimately sank them in all three losses. That’s the wild thing—it took Canada five games to allow a goal at 5-on-5, but they’re out.

Canada gave fans very little confidence on any given night. The win against Finland was a solid 4-0 effort. The loss against Latvia was rough, no question about it – but it should have been a wake-up call. Instead, Canada struggled against the Germans and took double-digit penalties against an American team many expect to claim gold for the second consecutive year.

The comeback effort against Czechia was promising. Canada had full control throughout most of the third period and looked destined to take the lead for the first time all game. But when Gibson took the kneeing penalty late, everything changed. Canada started the penalty kill off well, but Adam Jecho would never miss on a gift of an opportunity like that.

You can blame the refs all you want, and fans of both sides have reasons to be frustrated. The two kneeing calls, in particular, are going to be heavily scrutinized. But the IIHF has always called rules tightly, and you can’t give them any room to make a judgment call. Canada found themselves shorthanded a whopping 27 times over five games – and think about how much worse it could have been if it wasn’t for the offsetting calls.

Were there some bad calls? Absolutely. But they didn’t become the most penalized team by a large margin because the refs were out to get them.

The best word to describe this roster was “undisciplined.” Simple as that.

Coach Cameron deserves a lot of the blame, too. When it was clear Canada needed a shakeup, it never came. It’s been said countless times before: not working with the instant chemistry that Carson Rehkopf and Porter Martone (who scored on Thursday) had from Brampton was a mistake. Not giving Gavin McKenna a shooter to work with was a problem – same with not trying him on the first line until the halfway point in their final game. Not adjusting the lines when things weren’t working or giving players who were making constant mistakes more ice was a good way to watch everything burn.

During his media availability after Thursday’s loss, Cameron said the team cancelled their scheduled practices on Jan. 1 and 2 due to being tired after the loss to the United States. They were too tired two full mornings after their last game to get together and work on the obvious flaws? Seriously? These are teenagers in peak physical condition. It didn’t seem to stop Sweden, Slovakia, Finland, USA or Czechia, all of whom still hit the ice.

The lines were disjointed from the get-go. They sat one of Martone or Rehkopf out every night. Either one of them could have easily been top-level power-play options for them. And, again, they play together on one of the best lines in major junior. Not having them play together after showing chemistry in the pre-tournament was inexcusable.

One thing is for certain: don’t expect Dave Cameron back behind Canada’s bench for the World Juniors last year.

Did Hockey Canada overthink this? Do they need to skip selection camp and just name a 25-man team before the pre-tournament? Because as many scouts will point out, every cut had its merits. Andrew Cristall was quiet. Zayne Parekh struggled. The most surprising player left off was Beckett Sennecke, but he wasn’t even originally part of the camp roster.

But did the two selection camp games and an intrasquad scrimmage decide too much? They could have used the dynamic skill of Cristall; the offensive stylings from the point of Parekh; the power forward force that is Sennecke.