{"id":392174,"date":"2026-01-06T17:35:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392174\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:35:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:35:06","slug":"canada-nabs-world-junior-bronze-parekh-sets-record-apologizes-to-flames-for-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392174\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada nabs world junior bronze; Parekh sets record, apologizes to Flames for comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAINT PAUL \u2014 Zayne Parekh<\/a> didn\u2019t have much interest in the high-water mark he had just surpassed.<\/p>\n

Despite registering the most points ever by a Canadian defenceman at a world junior hockey championship, the 19-year-old felt he hadn\u2019t done enough.<\/p>\n

The Calgary Flames<\/a> blueliner then closed his tournament with an apology.<\/p>\n

Parekh had a goal and an assist to set a new record for points by a blueliner from Canada at an under-20 men\u2019s showcase with 13 as the country salvaged a bronze medal thanks to a 6-3 victory over Finland on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot too much,\u201d he said when asked what he thought of passing the previous mark of 12 points previously held by Bryan McCabe<\/a> (1995) and Alex Pietrangelo<\/a> (2008). \u201cIt\u2019s just disappointing we didn\u2019t come away with gold. That\u2019s the ultimate goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parekh also walked back comments made New Year\u2019s Day on his comfort level speaking with the media \u2014 and if it was based off what he had seen from other athletes?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more watching NHL guys be robots and not having any personality,\u201d Parekh said Thursday. \u201cI think you need some personality, and it\u2019s the best way to grow the game. I don\u2019t want to come in here and be a robot. When I\u2019m in Calgary, I definitely have a lot of guys that are telling me to give really simple answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut here I could kind of do what I want.\u201d <\/p>\n

Parekh concluded his Monday scrum with a mea culpa after subsequently not being made available to reporters until the world juniors concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think some things got spun out of proportion \u2026 probably worded things wrongly,\u201d said the Nobleton, Ont., product. \u201cBut obviously it wasn\u2019t my intent in the words I said, and I sincerely apologize to the Flames organization and my teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s not acceptable and that can\u2019t happen.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gavin McKenna scored and added three assists against Finland for Canada, which was bounced by Czechia less than 24 hours earlier in the semifinals. Sam O\u2019Reilly, with two, Braeden Cootes<\/a> and Porter Martone provided the rest of the offence. Carter George<\/a> made 32 saves. <\/p>\n

Michael Hage had four assists to finish with a tournament-high 15 points. McKenna was second with 14, while Parekh was one back in third.<\/p>\n

Canada was left heartbroken after falling 6-4 on Sunday \u2014 the third straight year the Czechs have crushed the country\u2019s gold-medal dreams following quarterfinal exits in both 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us showed a lot of resilience,\u201d Martone said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great result to end the tournament with a win.\u201d <\/p>\n

Heikki Ruohonen, with a goal and an assist, Arttu Valila and Julius Miettinen replied for Finland. Petteri Rimpinen made 28 stops after his nation lost 4-3 to Sweden in a dramatic Sunday shootout with a spot in the final on the line.<\/p>\n

Canada, which has won a record 20 gold medals after last topping the field at the 2023 event in Halifax, claimed bronze for just the sixth time. The powerhouse hadn\u2019t played in the third-place game since 2014 and last won it in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of fun together, a lot of great memories,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cIt sucks we couldn\u2019t get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweden topped Czechia 4-2 in the title game later Monday at Grand Casino Arena for only that country\u2019s third-ever gold in the first podium showdown to not involve either Canada or the United States since 2016.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly opened the scoring 70 seconds into Monday\u2019s bronze-medal first period on a 2-on-1 with Hage in front of a small crowd inside the home of the NHL\u2019s Minnesota Wild<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed my time with these guys,\u201d Hage said. \u201cHappy I\u2019ve gotten this opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n

Valila responded for Finland, which lost last year\u2019s final to the Americans in overtime, at 3:23 before Cootes fired home from the slot at 4:57. <\/p>\n

The Finns got back even at 11:58 when Miettinen beat George on a man advantage. But Parekh scored on Canada\u2019s white-hot power play \u2014 10-for-20 entering Monday \u2014 when he ripped an effort past Rimpinen with 1:19 remaining in the period. <\/p>\n

Canadian defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson then rocked Max Westergard off the ensuing faceoff with a huge hit that sent the Finnish forward to the locker room. <\/p>\n

Martone made it 4-2 at 1:47 of the second on a Tij Iginla<\/a> feed and a Parekh assist for the national defence scoring record. O\u2019Reilly pushed the lead to three with his second of the game on another power play at 5:27. <\/p>\n

Ruohonen snuck a shot past George, who lost Canada\u2019s net for the quarters and semis to Jack Ivankovic, to make it 5-3 at 14:18. <\/p>\n

McKenna picked up his fourth point of the game at 13:35 of the third when he scored with Rimpinen out of position. Hage bagged his fourth assist to secure the outright lead atop the scoring race.<\/p>\n

The Canadians then left with heads held high \u2014 and lingering disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one will remember this because we didn\u2019t win gold,\u201d Parekh said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unfortunate.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026. <\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAINT PAUL \u2014 Zayne Parekh didn\u2019t have much interest in the high-water mark he had just surpassed. Despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-392174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}