- Canada beat Sweden 7-4 to close the Hlinka Gretzky Cup round robin at 3-0
- Slovakia, Finland and the United States join the hosts in Friday’s semifinals
- Read below for the full Day 3 rundown and Canada’s semifinal draw
Canada is walking into the Hlinka Gretzky Cup semifinals without a blemish.
The hosts closed out the round robin Wednesday night at Rogers Place with a 7-4 win over Sweden, finishing the preliminary round 3-0 and taking Group A outright.
Five goals on 24 shots in the opening period settled it. Brock Cripps, Ben Veitch and Liam Pue scored early, and Ryerson Edgar and Kayden Stroeder went back to back 20 seconds apart before the intermission.
Pue’s marker made it 3-0 and kept the 2028 draft-eligible Regina Pats winger atop Canada’s scoring list. Watch him pick the corner:
Stroeder wrapped up with a goal and two assists a night after his two-goal game against Slovakia. The Edmonton Oil Kings centre is playing this tournament in his own barn, and Hockey Canada mic’d him up this week and asked him to describe himself.
“I don’t really talk on the ice. I’m an off-ice glue guy.”
Here’s Stroeder at team photo day and Canada’s final practice before the tournament:
Alexis Joseph and Maddox Schultz tacked on goals for Canada. Benjamin Nystrom and Loui Karlsson each scored twice for Sweden, which missed the semifinals.
Slovakia grabbed the other Group A ticket by dumping Switzerland 6-2, and Tomas Selic did nearly all of it himself with three goals and two assists. Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff noted that the 6-foot-3 winger put up a point on every Slovak goal.
Finland and the United States came out of Group B, with the Americans winning the group.
Semifinal day is Friday. USA meets Slovakia at 2 p.m. ET and Canada draws Finland at 7 p.m. ET, with the medal games going Saturday.
The road here ran through Switzerland in the opener and a 6-1 win over Slovakia on Tuesday, a game Landon DuPont helped headline.
Canada owns 25 titles at this event and last won it in 2024. The Americans took gold a year ago, and both sides are now one win away from a rematch in Saturday’s final.
