The Under 17 World Hockey Challenge Gold Medal game featured an all-Canada final with Canada White facing Canada Red. Despite the two teams being from the same nation, this matchup provided fans with the look and feel of an old-fashioned rivalry game.
Related:2025 Under 17 World Hockey Challenge – Semifinals Recap
In the end, Canada Red put an end to any hopes of Canada White having three consecutive championships, as they won their first U17 World Challenge gold medal.
Golden Game
The game started off as if both teams were fired out of a cannon. Both squads were pushing the pace early, and the team captains, Alexis Joseph (Red) and Maddox Schultz (White), were leading the way as they both set the tone with their speed. The two teams traded chances early with a blistering pace and end-to-end action. But it was Red that opened the scoring with a brilliant offensive zone play that saw Joseph roll up from the half-wall to the blue line, drawing in two defenders before dropping the puck back to the half-wall, where Charlie Murata, who has slid into the high slot uncontested, stepped in and fired a bullet over the shoulder of goaltender Sam Berthiaume.
Brock Chitaroni tied the game with a laser from the high slot, but one minute later, Red regained its one-goal lead with a goal off the stick of Loik Gariepe. White then began to step up the physicality, and both teams ran into penalty problems, but neither side could capitalize as both of their penalty killing (PK) units were highly effective. Then, with one minute remaining in the first, Mirco Dufour gave Red a two-goal lead as they went into the second up three to one.
The second period began as the first did, with both teams battling to control the game using physicality and pace. But it was Red that struck first in this middle frame to make it 4-1 on a goal by Ryerson Edgar, who arrived on the rush as the third man in, receiving a perfect pass from Blake Chorney, who was able to draw two defenders towards him, which opened the slot where Edgar had an open shot on net.
Canada White then began to claw their way into the game, starting with a late second-period goal by Kaden McGregor. The third period began with Red leading 4-2 and both teams again battling for each inch of the ice, which led to another flurry of penalty calls. White’s third line built some momentum as Brenner Lammens played the role of super pest, as he has all tournament, buzzing around the net and getting under the skin of Red’s defence.
This seemed to fire White up as the top line came on the ice following a highly energetic shift by that third line. The top line played hard-nosed hockey, crashing the net and forcing a Red defender to cover the puck in the crease, awarding White a penalty shot. Maddox Schultz made a brilliant deke cut the lead to 4-3 with five minutes left in regulation.
Canada White pulled their goalie with nearly three minutes remaining. They put pressure on the Red defence down low, but after a couple of blocked shots, Blake Chorney was able to push the puck loose into the neutral zone, which allowed Camryn Warren to jump onto the loose puck and take a long shot to score into the empty net. But White didn’t roll over and kill the clock, they went for it again, pulling the goalie, and as team White defenceman Thomas Charbonneau said, they “…competed and worked hard right until the end”.
Unfortunately for them, Benjamin Veitch played out a nearly identical goal as the fifth one, scoring into the empty net and sealing a 6-3 victory for Canada Red.
“What an amazing feeling to win this tournament so close to home. This group of guys has gelled so well over the last two weeks, and I’m so grateful to be a part of this. What an amazing feeling… my first time playing for my country and to finish it in front of a sold-out barn, family and friends is something I’ve always dreamt of and it’s even better than I could have imagined.”
-Benjamin Veitch (Canada Red Forward)
This tournament featured many incredible performances, making it very difficult to select who was most deserving of an all-star nod.
Beyond these all-stars, there will be many names from this tournament that will be called at the 2027 and 2028 NHL Entry Drafts. As the first major international tournament for young players, it is the introduction of these young players to international competition and is their way to showcase themselves to the world. There have been hundreds of young men who have gone on from this tournament to the NHL, many top picks, and this year’s group will add to that long list of NHLers.
