Canada 5, Sweden 3
Whitecloud played 17:04 and registered two penalty minutes in Canada’s 5-3 win over Sweden in their tournament opener Friday. Paired with Oilers d-man Darnell Nurse, Whitecloud finished even on the plus/minus ledger in his 11th career IIHF World Championship game. The blueliner won silver with Canada in 2022.
Calgarian Dylan Holloway was one of Canada’s five goal-getters, with John Tavares, Ryan O’Reilly, Connor Brown and Dylan Cozens also chipping in with singles. Young forwards Porter Martone and Fraser Minten each had two assists, Minten was named Canada’s player of the game. Jet Greaves turned away 22 of the 25 shots that came his way.
The Flames have no representation on the Swedish side this year, but the top line for the Tre Kronor featured a pair of blue-chip prospects eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft in Ivar Stenberg and Viggo Bjorck.
Bjorck, the youngest player in Swedish World Championship history, finished 9-17 in the face-off dot, and like Stenberg, earned nearly 19 minutes of ice-time.