Hockey Canada names first 15 players for the World Cham­pi­onship and squad for the warm-up game against Austria

The preliminary squad, comprising one goaltender, five defencemen and nine forwards, was selected by General Manager Kyle Dubas (Sault Ste. Marie, ON/Pittsburgh, NHL), Player Relations Advisor Ryan Getzlaf (Regina, SK) and Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), Senior Vice President of High Performance and Hockey Operations.

A selection committee comprising four NHL executives – Dennis Bonvie (Antigonish, NS/Boston, NHL), Gregory Campbell (Tillsonburg, ON/Florida, NHL), Andrew Cogliano (Woodbridge, ON/Colorado, NHL) and Jason Spezza (Mississauga, ON/Pittsburgh, NHL) – was also involved in selecting the players.

Of the 15 players, eight have previously represented Canada at the IIHF World Championship (Fantilli, Horvat, Johnson, Konecny, Montour, O'Reilly, Sanheim, Weegar), while two won the title at the 4 Nations Face-Off 2025 (Konecny, Sanheim). In addition, the preliminary squad includes eleven players who have represented Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship (Celebrini, Cuylle, Dobson, Fantilli, Foerster, Garand, Hayton, Horvat, Johnson, Konecny, Sanheim).

“We are excited to announce the first 15 players who will wear the maple leaf at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. This is a highly competitive and talented group that brings a strong foundation of NHL and international experience and success,” said Dubas. “We know that these 15 players will give our team a chance to compete for a gold medal as they proudly represent Canada in Stockholm and Herning, and we look forward to continuing to build our roster ahead of the World Championship following the conclusion of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”

Additions to the squad will be announced in the coming weeks and will depend on the results of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs.

In addition, seven players will join the Canadian men's national team for its training camp in Vienna and Budapest – Nicolas Beaudin (Châteauguay, QC/HC Kometa Brno, Czech Extraliga), Zach Boychuk (Airdrie, AB/Eisbären Berlin, DEL), Harrison Brunicke (Calgary, AB/Kamloops, WHL), Porter Martone (Peterborough, ON/Brampton, OHL), Zayne Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Saginaw, OHL), Brendan Perlini (Sault Ste. Marie, ON/Lausanne HC, NL) and Ty Ronning (Burnaby, BC/Eisbären Berlin, DEL).

Dean Evason to lead Canada at the World Championship as head coach

Following his role as an assistant coach at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, Dean Evason (Flin Flon, MB/Columbus, NHL) will take charge of the national team as head coach this year. He will be assisted by Andrew Brunette (Sudbury, ON/Nashville, NHL), Ryan Huska (Cranbrook, BC/Calgary, NHL) and Steve McCarthy (Trail, BC/Columbus, NHL), as well as Head of Performance Analysis James Emery (Calgary, AB).

At the World Championship itself, Austria will face Canada once again, as they did last year in Prague (CZE). Before then, the two nations will meet in Vienna this Sunday.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION

Austria vs. Canada
Sun, 4 May 2025, 19:00, Vienna STEFFL Arena, live on ORF SPORT + & Krone TV

Already played:

Germany vs. Austria 5:0 (0:0, 2:0, 3:0)
Sat, 26 April 2025, 17:00, Rosenheim (GER)
Germany goalscorers: Maximilian Kastner (26 min), Nicolas Krämmer (32 min), Philipp Krauss (43 min), Alexander Ehl (44 min), Joshua Samanski (53 min)

Austria vs. Germany 2:3 (0:0,1:2,1:1)
Thu, 24 April 2025, 19:00, Zell am See
Austria goalscorers: Paul Huber (40'), Clemens Unterweger (56'/PP1)
Goalscorers Germany: Fabio Wagner (28'), Marc Michaelis (29'/PP1), Wojciech Stachowiak (57')

Austria vs. Czechia 4:3 after overtime (0:0,0:1,3:2,1:0)
Sat, 19 April 2025, 17:30, Linz
Goalscorers Austria: Paul Huber (43'), Lukas Haudum (46'), Benjamin Baumgartner (55'/PP1), Dominic Zwerger (61')
Goalscorers Czechia: Jiří Černoch (28'/PP1), Adam Kubík (46'), Jaromír Pytlík (48')

Czechia vs. Austria 4:0 (1:0,1:0,2:0)
Thu, 17 April 2025, 19:00, Znojmo (CZE)
Goalscorers Czechia: Jiří Černoch (19'), Filip Přikryl (27'), Daniel Kurovský (57'), Kristian Reichel (59')

Hungary vs. Austria 5:1 (0:1,2:0,3:0)
Fri, 11 April 2025, 18:00, Ajka (HUN)
Goalscorers Hungary: Márk Schlekmann (34'/PP1), István Terbócs (39', 48'), Dominik Horváth (46'/PP1), Gergő Ambrus (49'/SH1)
Goalscorer Austria: Paul Huber (8')

Hungary vs. Austria 4:2 (1:0,1:1,2:1)
Thu, 10 April 2025, 19:00, Fehervar (HUN)
Goalscorers Hungary: Vilmos Galló (7'/PP1), István Terbócs (33'), Balázs Varga (44'/PP2), Roland Kiss (50')
Goalscorers Austria: Ramon Schnetzer (34), Paul Huber (46)

Austria vs. Latvia 1:4 (0:0,0:2,1:2)
Sat, 5 April 2025, 16:20, Vienna, Hall 3 STEFFL Arena
Austria scorers: Dominic Zwerger (53.) 
Latvia scorers:Georgijs Golovkovs (22), Anri Ravinskis (39, 41), Rihards Bukarts (48/PP1)

Austria vs. Latvia 2:3 AET (1:0,0:2,1:0,0:1)
Fri, 4 April 2025, 16:20, Vienna, Hall 3 STEFFL Arena
Austria scorers: Benjamin Lanzinger (19), Dominic Zwerger (55)
Latvia scorers: Nauris Sējējs (28), Kristaps Skrastiņš (29), Miks Tumānovs (62)

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

9–25 May 2025, Stockholm, Sweden & Herning, Denmark

Austria vs. Finland
Fri, 09 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

Sweden vs. Austria
Sat, 10 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

Austria vs. Slovakia
Mon, 12 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

Canada vs. Austria
Thu, 15 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 20:20, live ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. France
Fri, 16 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

Slovenia vs. Austria
Sun, 18 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

Latvia vs. Austria
Tue, 20 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 12:20, live ORF 1