WINDSOR, ONT. \u2014 Braeden Cootes and Cole Reschny have emerged as the leading contenders to serve as Team Canada\u2019s captain at the 2027 World Juniors. <\/p>\n
Cootes, a first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2025, wore the \u2018C\u2019 during Canada\u2019s opening game of the World Junior Summer Showcase against Sweden on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny time you have that on, especially a Canadian jersey, it\u2019s such an honour and very proud of that,\u201d said the centre, who split last season between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Prince Albert Raiders. \u201cIt was a really cool honour.\u201d <\/p>\n
Reschny, a Calgary Flames first-round selection in 2025, wore the \u2018C\u2019 during Thursday\u2019s win over Finland at the WFCU Centre in Windsor. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt meant a lot,\u201d the University of North Dakota centre said. \u201cIt\u2019s huge. I want to be a leader on this team … It\u2019s very humbling that the coaches and staff see that of me and to wear that is very special and an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cootes and Reschny are among the eight players at the summer camp who also played for Canada at the 2026 World Juniors in Minnesota. Canada settled for bronze at that event after losing a heartbreaker in the semifinals against Czechia. <\/p>\n
Hockey Canada\u2019s staff is looking to Cootes and Reschny to help set the tone as the country aims to get back to the top of the podium at the World Juniors for the first time since 2023 in Halifax. <\/p>\n
Cootes previously captained Canada to a gold medal at the 2025 under-18 World Championship. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of respect in our room,\u201d said Team Canada head coach Misha Donskov, who was an assistant on last year\u2019s staff. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that\u2019s a consistent every dayer and that\u2019s a big part of what we\u2019re trying to instil throughout the course of our lineup with the rest of the guys.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cootes served as captain of the Thunderbirds before being traded to the Raiders last season. He helped Prince Albert advance to the Western Hockey League final. <\/p>\n
\u201cLead by example is my way of leading,\u201d Cootes said. \u201cJust through how I carry myself as a person and also vocally with saying the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cootes already has professional experience, having played three games with the Canucks at the start of last season. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe leads by example, so I just watch what he\u2019s doing,\u201d said centre Caleb Malhotra, who recently roomed with Cootes at Canucks development camp after being selected third overall in June\u2019s draft. \u201cHe\u2019s very pro with his routines and taking care of himself off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reschny, who served as an alternate captain with the Victoria Royals before making the move to the NCAA for the 2025-26 season, showed off his leadership ability in Thursday\u2019s game. With Canada trailing 3-0, Reschny assisted on three straight goals to spark a 5-3 comeback win. <\/p>\n
\u201cI liked a lot of parts of his game,\u201d said Donskov. \u201cI liked his game away from the puck. I liked his game with the puck. He really had a massive impact every time he jumped the boards. He\u2019s a leader for us and he showed it on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can lead by example, but he\u2019s also an outspoken guy,\u201d said Saginaw Spirit winger Dima Zhilkin, who scored Canada\u2019s first two goals. \u201cWhen things weren\u2019t going our way, he was pumping up the boys and I think that helped a ton.\u201d <\/p>\n
Canada will wrap up the four-nation exhibition event with a game against the United States on Saturday. Between the games this week, Cootes and Reschny have been passing on the lessons learned from last year\u2019s World Juniors. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust how hard it is to win,\u201d Cootes said of his big takeaway. \u201cEverybody\u2019s so good now. The margins are so little. You never know what little play could make the difference. You got to come together as a group and you gotta play for each other not for yourself and that\u2019s, ultimately, what helps you win.\u201d <\/p>\n
What did Reschny learn last year? <\/p>\n
\u201cJust how tough it is to come together in a short-term competition and be at your best every day,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s what you gotta do to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
One advantage Canada will have this year is home ice with the tournament returning to Edmonton and Red Deer. Cootes is from just outside Edmonton. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get much better than that,\u201d the native of Sherwood Park, Alta. said. \u201cTo wear the \u2018C\u2019 and play on home soil and be in front of [the stands] where I grew up watching Oilers games would be very special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmonton is also close to home for Reschny, who grew up an Oilers fan in Macklin, Sask. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust being on our home turf and in our country will be very special,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, our fans are great and everyone is passionate, but to be in Edmonton, I was lucky enough to play at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup there and it\u2019s just unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINDSOR, ONT. \u2014 Braeden Cootes and Cole Reschny have emerged as the leading contenders to serve as Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77535,49,48,158118,82],"class_list":["post-840077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-braeden-cootes","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cole-reschny","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840077","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=840077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}