Team Canada looks for golden repeat at IIHF World Championship – Team Canada

AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

Team Canada will look to continue its impressive winning streak at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic.

After a gold medal at the 2023 tournament in Finland and Latvia, Canada is aiming to become men's world champion again for the first time since winning two titles in 2015 and 2016. Canada has won four of the last eight World Championships in men's hockey and has appeared in seven of the last eight gold medal games.

This year's Canadian roster consists entirely of National Hockey League players whose teams either did not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs or have already been eliminated. Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini, who is expected to be the first pick in this year's NHL Draft, was originally called up to the team but has since left to prepare for the draft.

Team Canada includes 13 players who already have World Cup 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 one goal and one assist in five games at Beijing 2022. Owen Power was also part of the Olympic team that finished sixth.

With NHL players expected to compete at Milano Cortina 2026, this year's World Cup 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 in which he scored 61 points in 68 games.

This will be Bedard's first men's world championship, but he's no stranger to success in the Team Canada jersey. He has won two gold medals with Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championships (2022, 2023), followed by a gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Juniors U18 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 Cup, Bedard will be reunited with two of his teammates from the 2023 Junior World Cup: forward Dylan Guenther and defender Olen Zellweger.

Bedard joined Michael Bunting and Jared McCann at the helm for Canada in Tuesday's 4-0 pre-tournament win over Hungary. Meanwhile, Günther ran with Andrew Mangiapane and Dylan Cozens on the second row. Owen Power and Colton Parayko were the team's best 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 alongside hosts Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland. Group B, based in Ostrava, includes Germany, last year's silver medalists, as well as France, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States.

After opening the tournament in Riga last year against host Latvia, Team Canada will open this year's event in a far less intimidating environment, taking on Great Britain on Saturday, May 11. Canada will then face Denmark (May 12th), followed by Austria (May 14th). and Norway (May 16). The team then completes the preliminary round with three challenging games: Finland (May 18th), Switzerland (May 19th) and the Czech Republic (21st).

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

All Team Canada games are broadcast by TSN.

Team Canada roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship

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

defender
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)

Forward
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)