The 2026 World Men’s Hockey Championships begins on Friday from Switzerland. Canada will play its round robin games in Fribourg. Team Canada will have a tough game to begin the tournament as they face Sweden on Friday.
The Canadian team will have two Canadian Olympic gold medalists. They are Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario. Crosby won gold for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and teamed up with Tavares to win gold at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
There are eight other players on Canadian teams. They are Edmonton Oilers defensemen Evan Bouchard of Oakville, Ontario, and Darnell Nurse of Hamilton, Ontario; Calgary Flames defenseman Zach Whitecloud of Brandon, Manitoba, Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Reilly of Vancouver, British Columbia, Ottawa Senators centre Dylan Cozens of Whitehorse, Yukon, Winnipeg Jets centres Mark Scheifele of Kitchener, Ontario, and Gabriel Vilardi of Kingston, Ontario, and Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo of London, Ontario.
The Team Canadian captain is San Jose Sharks centre Macklin Celebrini of North Vancouver, British Columbia. Other centres are Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues, who hails from Aurora, Ontario; Emmitt Finnie of the Detroit Red Wings, who hails from Lethbridge, Alberta; Dylan Holloway of the St. Louis Blues, who is from Calgary, Alberta; Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators, who is from Clinton, Ontario, and Fraser Minten of the Boston Bruins, who is from Vancouver. There is one other Canadian forward. That is New Jersey Devils right winger Connor Brown of Etobicoke, Ontario.
There are three more defensemen. They are Denton Mateychuk of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who is from Dominion City, Manitoba, Sam Dickinson of the San Jose Sharks, who is from Toronto, Ontario, and Parker Wotherspoon of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who is from Surrey, British Columbia. Meanwhile, the three Canadian goalies are Cam Talbot of the Detroit Red Wings, who is from Caledonia, Ontario, Jet Greaves of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who is from Cambridge, Ontario, and Jack Ivankovic of Mississauga, Ontario. Ivankovic is a draft pick of the Predators, who played this past year at the University of Michigan.
