- USA beat Slovakia 5-2 and Canada beat Finland 6-3 in Friday’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup semifinals
- Gold medal game goes Saturday at 5 p.m. MT from Rogers Place in Edmonton
- Read below for the full semifinal breakdown and the call-up who flew in a day early
The 2026 Hlinka Gretzky Cup is going to end the way most hockey fans wanted it to.
USA and Canada both won their semifinals in Edmonton on Friday, setting up an all-North American final for gold Saturday at Rogers Place. Puck drop is 5 p.m. MT, and it will be the first time these two have met in a Hlinka gold medal game since 2013.
Canada handled Finland 6-3 in the late game, though it took a while to get going. Olli Kylmälä put the Finns up on the power play before captain Landon DuPont ripped one past Samuel Heikkinen to tie it in the first.
Take a look at DuPont evening the score:
Benjamin Veitch tied it again in the second, then Malik L’Italien and Jaakoo Wycisk pushed Canada out to 4-2. Kylmälä got his second with under 10 minutes left, but Veitch struck once more and Kayden Stroeder buried one with under a second on the clock.
Canada is chasing a 26th gold at this event after settling for bronze last summer. DuPont is the only returnee from that team, and he has been the driver all week since Canada ran the table in the round robin.
The Americans got there earlier in the day with a 5-2 win over Slovakia. Patrik Rychlik opened the scoring and added a shorthanded goal later, but Gavin Burcar answered on the power play late in the first and the U.S. never trailed again.
Nash Roed finished with a hat trick, Ethan Sung chipped in, and Burcar walked away with four points. Watch how it unfolded:
One American in that lineup barely had time to unpack. Sawyer Schmidt, a 16-year-old with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, was at home in Buffalo on Thursday and did not make the original roster. He drove to Toronto, flew to Edmonton and dressed for the semifinal.
Schmidt was asked about getting the call with no warning, and he told the CHL he had no idea it was coming.
“Putting the jersey on, it’s more than yourself; it’s the whole country. It’s like no other.”
The U.S. is the defending champion here after beating Sweden last August for its first title since 2003. This is also the first time the Americans have reached the final in back-to-back years.
Slovakia and Finland meet for bronze earlier Saturday. The gold medal game follows at 5 p.m. MT on NHL Network.
