WINDSOR, ONT. \u2013 Jack Ivankovic is poised to become only the second goalie to play in three World Juniors for Team Canada and the first to do it since Trevor Kidd in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of joke around about it, that it\u2019s his fifth World Juniors or something like that,\u201d said smiling defenceman Carson Carels, who was teammates with Ivankovic at the World Juniors last year. \u201cHe\u2019s just overall amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivankovic served as the backup to Carter George in 2025 when Canada fell in the quarterfinals in Ottawa before grabbing the starting job in the knockout stage last year in Minnesota. Ivankovic took the loss in the semifinal against Czechia as Canada settled for a bronze medal at the event. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s never the medal you want to win,\u201d Ivankovic said. \u201cI\u2019ve got the chance to win a few gold medals and that feeling is like no other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivankovic has won it all four times with Canada \u2013 under-17s (2023), under-18s (2024, 2025) and at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup (2024) \u2013 but the World Junior gold has proven elusive. <\/p>\n
This time around the Michigan Wolverines star is the undisputed No. 1 guy for Team Canada. In fact, Ivankovic\u2019s spot is so assured that he\u2019s not even playing any games this week at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Instead, Ivankovic has been supporting the other three goalies at Canada\u2019s camp (Lucas Beckman, William Lacelle and Samuel Meloche) while dressing as the backup goalie in all three games. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect Jack to carry the ball for our team,\u201d confirmed Hockey Canada general manager Alan Millar. \u201cHe brings a lot of intangibles to our group including leadership and character. He\u2019ll be a key guy for us not only on the ice, but he\u2019s a glue guy in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivankovic doesn\u2019t just have previous experience at the World Juniors. The Nashville Predators prospect also has experience at the senior men\u2019s Worlds after being invited to serve as Canada\u2019s third goalie in Switzerland in May. <\/p>\n
\u201cI got the call and they were like, \u2018Hey, you want to come?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Pfft, of course,\u2019\u201d Ivankovic recalled with a grin. <\/p>\n
A few days later, Sidney Crosby decided to join Team Canada after his Pittsburgh Penguins bowed out in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. <\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, we didn\u2019t know if he was going to come or not and then he got added to the group chat and I was kind of in shock,\u201d Ivankovic said. \u201cI actually had him on my mask so that was a little funny when I showed it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Crosby arrived, he did a solo session to get up to speed and Ivankovic joined him on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being there and taking shots from him was probably the coolest thing I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d the 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont. said.<\/p>\n
Ivankovic feels he fared \u201cpretty good, actually\u201d against Crosby. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a backhand like that in my life,\u201d he admitted. \u201cLearning how to read his release was a little tricky at first, but I think I got the hang of it by the end. You just never know when he\u2019s going to shoot it. He\u2019s so deceptive and so smart where he places the puck. He uses a pretty straight blade and that was something different than I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crosby\u2019s arrival came after 20-year-old Macklin Celebrini had already been named captain of the team and the San Jose Sharks sensation retained the role for the tournament. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Ivankovic gushed. \u201cI actually hung out with him a lot. We both didn\u2019t have our families there so we\u2019d go for lunch probably every day. We\u2019re both still kids playing the PS5 a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivankovic had heard stories about how incredible Celebrini is from Michigan teammates Michael Hage and Jayden Perron, who played with him on the Chicago Steel in the USHL. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo finally be on the ice and see what he\u2019s all about was pretty cool,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s awesome. He\u2019s such a good player. You see what he did this year and you see the contract he just signed, I mean, he deserves it. A great player, great person, that\u2019s why he wore the \u2018C\u2019 there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Former NHL captains John Tavares and Ryan O\u2019Reilly were also on Team Canada and the pair of veterans always stayed out late after practice. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like 45 minutes after and we did tips and little breakaway drills in front of the net,\u201d Ivankovic said. \u201cYou got the best in the world doing those little tip drills on you, it makes you better.\u201d<\/p>\n
So did spending time with Canadian starter Jet Greaves of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ivankovic, who stands 5-foot-11, considers the 6-foot Greaves to be a role model. The pair roomed together during Canada\u2019s training camp in Paris. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually took a four-hour bike ride around Paris seeing everything,\u201d said Ivankovic. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy who isn\u2019t the biggest guy, but plays big and is probably one of the best skaters in the whole NHL and that\u2019s something I take pride in.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Greaves signed a three-year, $15 million contract extension last week, Ivankovic was quick to send a congratulatory text. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves the game,\u201d Ivankovic said. \u201cHe loves stopping the puck and I\u2019m super pumped for him that he just signed this new deal. He\u2019s just a good guy and a good player and I\u2019m excited to play against him hopefully one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
That will come in time, but for now Ivankovic is focused on the upcoming season at Michigan and helping Canada snap a three-year gold medal drought at the World Juniors. He\u2019s entering the year with a little extra pep in his step thanks to the time spent around NHL stars. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives me that little boost that, you know what, I\u2019m able to play at that NHL level right now and just confident about everything,\u201d Ivankovic said. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s staying grounded as well. Ivankovic realizes how rare it is to get a third chance at the World Juniors. <\/p>\n
\u201cI do,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cI\u2019m super grateful I\u2019ve had the opportunity to play at the two past World Juniors, but we didn\u2019t really do anything. You learn from those, but you forget them. I\u2019m coming into this year and I want to make this team. I still gotta prove that I\u2019m the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINDSOR, ONT. \u2013 Jack Ivankovic is poised to become only the second goalie to play in three World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[712,49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-841212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841212","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=841212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}