OTTAWA – Losing is bad enough, but being upset by Latvia on home ice followed by a day off is about as bad as it gets for Canada at the 2025 World Juniors.

Now there’s going to be 48 hours of second-guessing, finger-pointing and general stewing about a team that is now 1-0-1-0 after losing 1-0 and 2-1 leads late in the third period against Latvia before not scoring a single goal in an eight-round shootout.

• Follow FloHockey's Coverage Of The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship
• Canada's Roster | Canada Lineup
• Subscribe to FloHockey to watch elite junior, college and pro hockey all season long

So how on earth did this even happen?

To start, Canada was pretty flat in the game. The energy we saw for their game against Finland wasn’t quite there. The forecheck wasn’t as ferocious and their transition game wasn’t as crisp. On top of that, they generated a ton of shots, but very few came from the prime scoring areas. There’s more to it than that, though.

Let’s get to some of the key things that went wrong for Canada in this game.

Perimeter Shooting

One of the biggest complaints about the Canadian team that lost in the quarterfinals last year was that they were too perimeter and didn’t generate nearly enough through the middle of the ice or at the net front.

If you watched the game against Latvia, you’ll see that Canada had more than 50 shots on goal, but the number of those chances that came inside the prime scoring areas were few and far between. Until Jett Luchanko (PHI) got a shorthanded breakaway on a Latvia miscue, Canada hadn’t had a lot of Grade A chances.

They controlled the puck, but couldn’t control the middle of the ice. Latvia stayed committed to blocking shots and clogging lanes and had a goalie that was able to see the puck pretty easily. That simply isn’t going to cut it against anyone, let alone the best teams in the tournament.

Canada’s team was supposed to be built as a harder, grittier version of last year’s team without giving away much skill. That didn’t seem to be the case. 

It didn't help that Latvia goalie Linards Feldbergs was not allowing many rebounds and took up a ton of net, but they certainly didn't make it too difficult on him either. The low-percentage shots instead of trying to drive the net or get a higher-percentage look did not work.

It's not that Canada didn't generate any chances, it's just that they weren't generating enough against a team they were so clearly better than. No matter the talent gap, the scoreline says different now.

Matthew Schaefer Got Hurt

The tide of the game really seemed to change very early in the first period. Matthew Schaefer, Canada’s 17-year-old top-four defenseman, crashed the net hard on the power play and ended up crashing too hard.

The swift-skating blueliner banged into the post, stayed down for a bit and then immediately left for Canada’s dressing room. He did not return.

After starting the game, Schaefer played just 2:08 of the game before leaving. That cost Canada a top-six defenseman, one of their best pure puck movers and their second power-play defenseman. 

Without him, Canada’s blue line looked fairly suspect in terms of its ability to move pucks, create in transition and they, quite frankly weren’t defending all that well.

Oliver Bonk (PHI), Schaefer’s regular partner took on the most minutes, and then they tried to replace Schaefer by committee. Caden Price (SEA) also took on more minutes, but didn’t have the same puck-moving capabilities. Sam Dickinson (SJS) had to be managed a bit more as some of his defensive reads weren’t sharp enough, which included his taking an early interference penalty.

This Canadian roster shouldn’t really tip this far the wrong way when they lose an underage defenseman, even one as good as Schaefer, but it did.

Now they have to wait and see what his prognosis is. If they lose him for the tournament, they've got to find a way to adequately replace him because they couldn't seem to do it on the fly.

The Power Play Has Struggled

Special teams is such a key part of any tournament. Canada’s power play went 1-for-4, with Cal Ritchie (COL) scoring late in the third period after a couple of other chances. That was their first power play of the tournament in seven opportunities. 

They weren’t getting clean looks at any point until their last power play where Ritchie made an incredible shot on the one-timer. As good as Latvia is at blocking shots and getting in the way, it’s really hard to believe they had the more successful power play in the game.

Both of Latvia’s regulation goals came on the advantage. They showed creative puck movement and aggressively used their bumper position player to keep the PK honest. They also created traffic in front of the net. Canada didn’t get many rebounds.

Canada had three pre-tournament games and have been practicing as a group for two weeks. They can't really fall back on an excuse that they haven't had enough time to figure things out. There's also so much talent on each unit that you'd figure there would be consistency and an easily-built chemistry among the players. That hasn't really been the case.

It also calls into question the personnel that they've been using and the system they've had in place. Something's got to give.

Does Canada Have Enough Scoring?

A real question that only gets louder now is if Canada has enough scorers on their team. What makes that harder to answer is if any of the players they left off play a different enough style to warrant inclusion on the team.

You can certainly make the argument that Zayne Parekh (CGY) or Carter Yakemchuk (OTT) would be better power-play options than what Canada has, especially if Schaefer is out. Andrew Cristall (WSH) or Beckett Sennecke (ANA) are both high-end scorers with elite skill, but may be a bit repetitive to what they have already.

Carson Rehkopf (SEA), who was named to the roster, but has not been activated or registered to the official team is another proven scorer and good power play option, but they’ve been averse to adding him.

All of these 20-20 hindsight takes are easy enough. But the fact of the matter is, there isn’t a scenario in which Canada should be losing to a team with four 16-year-olds, two NHL draft picks and a hockey playing population smaller than a single province in the country.

Canada played out of sorts. The players were flat, the coaches failed to adjust and Latvia hung around just long enough to give themselves a chance. That’s going to lead to all the second-guessing and it only gets louder until they prove otherwise.

What made the result more of a shame for Canada is that 17-year-old goalie Jack Ivankovic was outstanding in the game. He made some big saves in tough situations and stopped seven of eight shooters in the shootout to take the loss in his debut. He needed someone to pick him up for how he played and they didn’t.

Now Canada has to hear all the noise before getting the chance to dial it back up for another should-win game Sunday against Germany. It's going to be a long 48 hours.

Team Canada World Junior Championship Schedule

Thurs., Dec. 26

• Canada 4, Finland 0

Fri., Dec. 27

• Canada 2, Latvia 3 (Shootout)

Sun., Dec. 29

• Canada vs. Germany, 5:30 p.m. ET

Tues., Dec. 31

• Canada vs. USA, 6:00 p.m. ET

Thurs., Jan. 2

• Quarterfinal & Relegation Games, Times TBD

Sat., Jan. 4

• Semifinal Games, Times TBD

Sun., Jan. 5

• Bronze Medal Game, Time TBD
• Gold Medal Game, Time TBD

Watch AHL, ECHL, USHL And More On FloHockey

FloHockey is the streaming home to some of the best hockey leagues in North America, including the AHL, ECHL and more. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more hockey.

Join The Hockey Conversation On FloHockey Social

• Follow us on Twitter @FloHockey
• Follow us on Instagram @flohockey
• Follow us on TikTok @flohockeytv
• Watch us on YouTube
• Like us on Facebook