photo: © Andy Devlin / Hockey Canada Images
These days, the hockey season feels pretty much as if it lasts 365 days a year, and if it does then the unofficial start to the new year is the annual Hlinka Gretzky Cup, played these days alternately in Canada and Czechia/Slovakia. This year, Edmonton played host, and Canada won the tournament by beating the Czechs, 2-1, in the gold-medal game at Rogers Place.
The eight-team tournament included Canada, Sweden, Slovakia, and Switzerland in Group A, and Czechia, United States, Germany, and Finland in Group B. The tournament began in 1991, and over 29 events Canada has won it 22 times. It has been played under many names, but Ivan Hlinka’s name was attached to the tournament in 2007, and Wayne Gretzky’s was added in 2018.
What makes the tournament so compelling is that it is very much a preview of the IIHF U18 tournament played every April. The biggest difference is that Canada dominates the summer event because all of its best players are available, and they have only middling success in April because so many of the top U18 players are in the CHL and Memorial Cup playoffs and unavailable. And so, each April it is the United States that dominates.
This year Canada was perfect, winning all five games by a combined score of 24-4. Two players stood out. Gavin McKenna is the only 2008-born player on the team, meaning that while every other Canadian will be draft eligible in 2025, McKenna won’t be available until a year later. He had a sensational year in Medicine Hat last year as a 16-year-old, and international fans will recall how dominant he was at the 2024 IIHF U18 this last April, scoring 20 points overall, including a hat trick in the team’s 6-4 gold-medal win over the U.S. He is almost certain to be front and centre next year in Frisco, Texas, at the 2025 WM18, if he is not in the CHL playoffs.
Goalie Jack Ivankovic, meanwhile, was nothing short of sensational for Canada, posting a 4-0 record and a scintillating .967 save %. He plays with the Mississauga (soon to be Brampton) Steelheads in the OHL. Many pundits consider him to be the future of Canada’s crease, and this is only the first of perhaps many stages of his development.
As Canada has McKenna, so too do the Czechs have Adam Benak. He also played at the IIHF’s 2024 WM18, but he did not have a great tournament. Fast forward a few months and Benak, now a little bigger and faster and more confident, dominated in Edmonton, finishing second in scoring with 11 points in five games. He has committed to playing with Youngstown in the USHL this year, thus revealing another element of the tournament’s importance. No European nation places more juniors in North America than the Czechs, and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which is heavily scouted, provides a great opportunity for players to showcase their talent.
Sweden took the bronze medal, finishing third thanks to a solid 6-3 win over the United States. The young Swedes were led by Viktor Klingsell, who led all players with 8 assists and 12 points. He also tied for the goalscoring lead with four. Indeed, three of the five players who had four goals in Edmonton were Swedes (Ivar Stenberg, Jakob Ihs Wozniak). Virtually all of Sweden’s roster plays in their domestic junior league, developing under umbrella organizations which often nurture talent from an early age right through to the pros.
The Americans had an uneven tournament, winning only two of five games and losing their last two, in the semi-finals and then bronze-medal game. Nevertheless, Matthew Lansing scored four of the team’s 20 goals, this after being cut from the 2023 team. He’ll play another year in the USHL before going the NCAA route with Quinnipiac in the fall of 2025.
All in all, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is both an opportunity not to be missed by the world’s top U18 players, and it’s a foreshadowing of what might happen at the IIHF’s WM18 several months hence. This year was no exception.
The eight-team tournament included Canada, Sweden, Slovakia, and Switzerland in Group A, and Czechia, United States, Germany, and Finland in Group B. The tournament began in 1991, and over 29 events Canada has won it 22 times. It has been played under many names, but Ivan Hlinka’s name was attached to the tournament in 2007, and Wayne Gretzky’s was added in 2018.
What makes the tournament so compelling is that it is very much a preview of the IIHF U18 tournament played every April. The biggest difference is that Canada dominates the summer event because all of its best players are available, and they have only middling success in April because so many of the top U18 players are in the CHL and Memorial Cup playoffs and unavailable. And so, each April it is the United States that dominates.
This year Canada was perfect, winning all five games by a combined score of 24-4. Two players stood out. Gavin McKenna is the only 2008-born player on the team, meaning that while every other Canadian will be draft eligible in 2025, McKenna won’t be available until a year later. He had a sensational year in Medicine Hat last year as a 16-year-old, and international fans will recall how dominant he was at the 2024 IIHF U18 this last April, scoring 20 points overall, including a hat trick in the team’s 6-4 gold-medal win over the U.S. He is almost certain to be front and centre next year in Frisco, Texas, at the 2025 WM18, if he is not in the CHL playoffs.
Goalie Jack Ivankovic, meanwhile, was nothing short of sensational for Canada, posting a 4-0 record and a scintillating .967 save %. He plays with the Mississauga (soon to be Brampton) Steelheads in the OHL. Many pundits consider him to be the future of Canada’s crease, and this is only the first of perhaps many stages of his development.
As Canada has McKenna, so too do the Czechs have Adam Benak. He also played at the IIHF’s 2024 WM18, but he did not have a great tournament. Fast forward a few months and Benak, now a little bigger and faster and more confident, dominated in Edmonton, finishing second in scoring with 11 points in five games. He has committed to playing with Youngstown in the USHL this year, thus revealing another element of the tournament’s importance. No European nation places more juniors in North America than the Czechs, and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which is heavily scouted, provides a great opportunity for players to showcase their talent.
Sweden took the bronze medal, finishing third thanks to a solid 6-3 win over the United States. The young Swedes were led by Viktor Klingsell, who led all players with 8 assists and 12 points. He also tied for the goalscoring lead with four. Indeed, three of the five players who had four goals in Edmonton were Swedes (Ivar Stenberg, Jakob Ihs Wozniak). Virtually all of Sweden’s roster plays in their domestic junior league, developing under umbrella organizations which often nurture talent from an early age right through to the pros.
The Americans had an uneven tournament, winning only two of five games and losing their last two, in the semi-finals and then bronze-medal game. Nevertheless, Matthew Lansing scored four of the team’s 20 goals, this after being cut from the 2023 team. He’ll play another year in the USHL before going the NCAA route with Quinnipiac in the fall of 2025.
All in all, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is both an opportunity not to be missed by the world’s top U18 players, and it’s a foreshadowing of what might happen at the IIHF’s WM18 several months hence. This year was no exception.