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2025 IIHF World Junior Championship

Canada's Matthew Schaefer Out For Remainder Of World Juniors After Injury

Canada's Matthew Schaefer Out For Remainder Of World Juniors After Injury

Matthew Schaefer, one of Canada's top defensemen and a top prospect for the 2025 NHL Draft, is out for the remainder of the World Juniors with an injury.

Dec 28, 2024 by Chris Peters
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OTTAWA – Canada’s stunning loss to Latvia at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship got even more difficult to stomach after it was revealed that top 2025 NHL Draft eligible defenseman Matthew Schaefer has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. Hockey Canada announced the news Saturday morning.

The 17-year-old defenseman who earned a spot in Canada’s top four left Friday’s game after crashing into the net in the first period, making violent contact with the post. He remained down on the ice for a few minutes before slowly returning to Canada’s bench and immediately heading to the dressing room. He did not return to the game.

Details of the severity of the injury were not yet revealed, but him being out for the tournament is a blow to a Canadian blue line that is reeling from one of the more stunning upsets in World Junior history.

UPDATE: Per TSN's Bob McKenzie, Schaefer suffered a broken collar bone and could be out upwards of two to three months, another unfortunate blow to the young defenseman who started the season on the shelf with mono. 

Canada has added defenseman Sawyer Mynio (VAN) to their IIHF roster in place of Schaefer. Mynio was named to Team Canada, but had not yet been registered on the official roster. With Schaefer out, a spot among Canada’s seven dressed defensemen opened up, and that will go to Mynio.

Schaefer had played over 20 minutes in the opening-night win against Finland and was part of Canada’s second power play unit. He had two points in his WJC debut including a rink-long empty-net goal to ice the win over Finland.

With the young draft-eligible out, Canada will likely lean even more on Tanner Molendyk (NSH) and Oliver Bonk (PHI). Andrew Gibson (NSH) has also played significant minutes. They’re going to miss Schaefer’s puck-moving presence and skating ability on the back end.

Canada’s next game is against Germany on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET, before they close out preliminary play against defending champion USA on New Year’s Eve.

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, 7:30 p.m. ET

Tues., Dec. 31

  • Canada vs. USA, 8:00 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

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