Team Canada looking for golden repeat at IIHF World Championship

Team Canada will look to continue an impressive stretch of success at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Czechia.

Coming off a gold medal performance at the 2023 tournament held in Finland and Latvia, Canada is aiming to repeat as men’s world champions for the first time since they won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016. Canada has won four of the last eight world championships in men’s hockey while appearing in seven of the last eight gold medal games.

This year’s Canadian roster is made up entirely of players from the National Hockey League whose teams either didn’t qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs or have already been eliminated. Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini, expected to be the first overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft, was originally named to the team but has since departed to prepare for the draft.

There are 13 players named to Team Canada who have previous world championship experience. That includes forward Jack McBain, who helped Canada win gold at last year’s tournament. He is one of two members of the 2024 squad with Olympic experience. McBain recorded a goal and an assist in five games at Beijing 2022. Owen Power was also part of that Olympic team that finished sixth.

With NHL players expected to take part at Milano Cortina 2026, this year’s world championship could be an early audition for some. One player who will have a lot of eyes on him is Connor Bedard, the 18-year-old who is coming off a rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks that saw him record 61 points in 68 games.

This will be Bedard’s first men’s world championship but he’s quite familiar with success in a Team Canada sweater. He has won two gold medals with Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship (2022, 2023), which followed a gold medal at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship. Bedard led the 2023 World Juniors in scoring (23 points in seven games) and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

At this year’s world championship, Bedard will be reunited with two of his teammates from the 2023 World Juniors: forward Dylan Guenther and defenseman Olen Zellweger.

Bedard skated on Canada’s top line alongside Michael Bunting and Jared McCann in a 4-0 pre-tournament win over Hungary on Tuesday. Guenther, meanwhile, skated with Andrew Mangiapane and Dylan Cozens on the second line. Owen Power and Colton Parayko were the team’s top defensive pairing while Jordan Binnington made 21 saves in the shutout.

Team Canada schedule at the 2024 IIHF World Championship

Canada will play in Group A, based in Prague, along with host Czechia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland. Group B, based in Ostrava, will include last year’s silver medalists, Germany, along with France, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States.

After opening last year’s tournament against the host Latvians in Riga, Team Canada will open this year’s event in a much less intimidating environment, facing Great Britain on Saturday, May 11. Canada then faces Denmark (May 12) followed by Austria (May 14) and Norway (May 16). The team then closes out preliminary round play with what should be a trio of challenging games: Finland (May 18), Switzerland (May 19) and Czechia (21).

The quarterfinals take place May 23 followed by the semifinals on May 25. The bronze and gold medal games will be held on May 26.

All of Team Canada’s games will be broadcast by TSN.

Team Canada roster for 2024 IIHF World Championship

Goaltenders
Jordan Binnington (Richmond Hill, ON)
Nico Daws (Burlington, ON)
Joel Hofer (Winnipeg, MB)

Defensemen
Bowen Byram (Cranbrook, BC)
Kaiden Guhle (Sherwood Park, AB)
Jamie Oleksiak (Toronto, ON)
Colton Parayko (St. Albert, AB)
Owen Power (Mississauga, ON)
Damon Severson (Melville, SK)
Olen Zellweger (Fort Saskatchewan, AB)

Forwards
Connor Bedard (North Vancouver, BC)
Michael Bunting (Scarborough, ON)
Dylan Cozens (Whitehorse, YT)
Pierre-Luc Dubois (Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC)
Ridly Greig (Lethbridge, AB)
Dylan Guenther (Edmonton, AB)
Brandon Hagel (Morinville, AB)
Andrew Mangiapane (Bolton, ON)
Jack McBain (Toronto, ON)
Jared McCann (London, ON)
Dawson Mercer (Bay Roberts, NL)
Nick Paul (Mississauga, ON)
Brandon Tanev (Toronto, ON)