Canada rallies to beat Sweden in second World Juniors pre-tournament game: Who stood out?

Canada beat Sweden 4-2 on Saturday night in their second pre-tournament game ahead of the 2025 World Juniors. Canada’s Easton Cowan (Toronto) and Calum Ritchie (Colorado) and Sweden’s Theo Lindstein (St. Louis) and Otto Stenberg (St. Louis) had multi-point games.

Fortuitous bounce? We’ll take it! 👍

Une déviation chanceuse? On va la prendre! 👍#WorldJuniors | #MondialJuniorpic.twitter.com/T580pLprA3

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 22, 2024

Cowan stood out again following his hat trick against Switzerland. He’s the clear driver on Canada’s top line, constantly competing to be around the puck and making plays with pace. He looks like the go-to player on this Canadian team. I also praised Matthew Schaefer’s performance versus Switzerland. One bad turnover aside that led to a goal against, he was excellent again. The 2025 draft-eligible may be Canada’s best defenseman right now.

Canada’s second line didn’t get a point, but I liked the play of Berkly Catton (Seattle) a lot in this one. He was involved in a number of chances, and with his great skating he always kept the play going up the ice quickly.

In what was a tight-checking game, the play of Swedish defenseman Tom Willander (Vancouver) was notable. He’s an excellent skater, and closed on a lot of Canadian forwards to break up plays and nullify scoring opportunities. His puck-moving was good enough, too. I don’t think it’s his calling card, but interestingly he was on Sweden’s first power-play unit. I’m unsure whether that will be his spot all tournament, though.

Required reading

• Maple Leafs’ Easton Cowan shines for Canada in World Juniors pre-tournament win over Switzerland
• Who are the best NHL prospects at 2025 World Juniors? Ranking the top 25 players

(Photo of Berkly Catton: Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press via AP)