Team Canada has won its first game of the 2026 International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Hockey Championships in Fribourg, Switzerland. On Friday, Canada defeated Sweden by a score of 5-3.
Three Canadian players had a multi-point game. Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse of Hamilton, Ontario, Philadelphia Flyers right winger Porter Martone of Peterborough, Ontario, and Boston Bruins centre Fraser Minten of Vancouver, British Columbia all had two assists.
Team Canada had five different goal scorers. They were St. Louis Blues centre Dylan Holloway of Calgary, Alberta, Nashville Predators centre Ryan O’Reilly of Clinton, Ontario, Ottawa Senators centre Dylan Cozens of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canadian Olympic gold medalist and Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario, and New Jersey Devils right winger Connor Brown of Toronto, Ontario. Tavares won a gold medal for Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Out of all of the Canadian skaters today, Nurse actually deserves praise for his play in the first and third period. He had a highlight reel pass in the first period, which set up Tavares for the opening goal, and made a key shot block in the third period. However, in the second period, Nurse was responsible for one of Sweden’s three goals as he fell back into goaltender Jet Greaves.
