Canada is through to the semifinal at the 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship following a 3-2 overtime win over Czechia on Wednesday 鈥� and part of that is credited to players who call 91原创 Events Centre their home ice.
They are members of the Vancouver Giants, and they're playing for Team Canada in the world championships unfolding in Texas this past week-plus.
Vancouver Giants forward and defenceman failed to score Wednesday, but made their presence felt in this and the other games playing out in Allen, Tx.
In Wednesday's game against Czechia, the two Vancouver Giants representatives in the game 鈥� Schmidt and Lin 鈥� combined for eight shots on goal, but didn't register a point. Schmidt, who is 2025 NHL draft-eligible, also had a breakaway in overtime, but was denied by goaltender Frantisek Poletin.
Giants goaltender is also representing Canada internationally for the first time, but he's the third goaltender and has not seen much game action.
In the meantime, WHL rival Victoria Royals defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, set up Royals teammate Cole Reschny for the overtime winner to keep Canada鈥檚 gold-medal defence alive.
Actually, Reschny scored twice in the contest, while Tri-City Americans defender Jackson Smith had the other Canada tally, meaning all three goals came from WHL players.
With the United States beats Latvia in Wednesday night's quarterfinal, Canada will face Slovakia in the semifinal on Friday afternoon. Canada beat this team 9-2 in the tournament opener.
On that team is Giants prospect Tobis Tom铆k, who helped Slovakia advance to the semis earlier on Wednesday, registering a primary assist in their 3-2 quarter-final win over Germany.
鈥� Stay tuned for more on Giants playing worlds in Texas
