Cameron Schmidt completed his national team trifecta when Team Canada smoked Sweden 7–0 in Saturday’s IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship final in Texas.
The 18-year-old brought his gold medal back home to Prince George on Sunday to add to his collection of international hockey treasures, which includes gold from the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
“It’s awesome. I’ve been able to do it for my third time now, and it’s a great feeling whenever you get to represent your country and bring back gold,” said Schmidt.
The Canadians went into the final having won their previous six games, including a 3–2 overtime win over Czechia in the quarterfinals and a 4–0 semifinal triumph over Slovakia. The win over Sweden gave Canada back-to-back U18 titles for the first time in program history.
Canada had lost to Sweden 8–3 in the exhibition round.
“We kind of used that first game as motivation against them, and we were able to come out on top,” said Schmidt. “They had some pretty close chances, but we had Jack Ivankovic in net — he’s one of the best goalies I’ve ever played with.”
Ivankovic (Brampton Steelheads, OHL) posted back-to-back playoff shutouts for Canada.
Canada grew progressively stronger, bolstered by the addition of Victoria Royals forward Cole Reschny, defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, and Calgary Hitmen forward Ben Kindel, who each missed two tournament games while playing in the WHL playoffs. Reschny scored five times — including the OT winner against Czechia — and added three assists. Kindel finished with a goal and six assists in five games, while Verhoeff had a goal and four assists.
The Canadian roster also featured 16-year-old Prince George Cougars defenceman Carson Carels, who finished with a goal and an assist.
“Being able to come in at that age, as an underager, is pretty cool,” said Schmidt. “I played against him this season and he’s a great D-man. He’s able to play the Canadian way, I guess you could say. Just being able to get to know him, with him and I being from PG, we get to joke around about this place.”
The quicksilver Schmidt scored two goals and had two assists in Canada’s tournament opener, a 9–2 win over Slovakia on April 24 in Allen, Texas. He also picked up an assist in the gold-medal game in Frisco, Texas.
He was coming off a superb sophomore WHL season in which he led the Vancouver Giants with 40 goals and 78 points. He also topped the team’s playoff scoring with four goals and five assists in the Giants’ five-game opening-round loss to the Spokane Chiefs.
“The team did pretty well, considering the last few years. We ran into Spokane in the first round, which was a tough team to play. But I’m happy with the way our team’s coming along and the young guys we have in the system — it should be fun the next couple of years,” Schmidt said.
Two of Schmidt’s Vancouver teammates — goalie Burke Hood and defenceman Ryan Lin — also made the Canadian roster for the world tournament.
Schmidt is completing his Grade 12 studies online and plans to remain at home in Prince George until he leaves for Buffalo, N.Y., for the NHL Draft Combine — a weeklong series of medical tests, fitness exercises and interviews with NHL teams to help inform their selections in the draft, set for June 27–28 in Los Angeles.
The five-foot-seven, 157-pound Schmidt is listed as the No. 43 North American skater available for this year’s NHL draft and is ranked No. 56 overall by Elite Prospects. He plans to attend the draft at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
“The draft has always been a dream — something you want to be part of — so to get this opportunity is pretty special,” said Schmidt, who was picked seventh overall in the WHL Prospects Draft in 2022, just ahead of forward Chase Harrington, another Prince George minor hockey product taken eighth overall by Spokane.
Harrington will be playing for the Chiefs in the WHL final, which starts Friday (6 p.m., TSN) against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“Not many people get drafted out of PG, so when you’ve got two guys being able to do what they’ve done in this league, it’s really cool to see — and I’m happy for him,” said Schmidt.
