Martin, McKenna lift Canada past Sweden in world juniors pre-tournament game

KITCHENER — Brady Martin and Gavin McKenna have quickly found chemistry for Canada’s world junior team.

Martin scored twice as Canada defeated Sweden 2-1 in pre-tournament action for the world junior hockey championship Wednesday.

McKenna, a projected top pick in next summer’s NHL draft, provided two assists and Carter George made 19 saves for Canada.

“Playing with Gavin is so easy,” Martin said. “He is such a smart player, and he always finds a way to get the puck to you or to a good spot on the ice. We had some good chemistry tonight, and I thought the guys worked hard.”

Viggo Bjorck replied for Sweden and Herman Liv stopped 24 shots at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

Martin, drafted fifth overall by the Nashville Predators last June, opened the scoring on a one-timer from distance off a cross-ice pass from McKenna just 39 seconds into the second period.

Bjorck replied at 5:16 on a 5-on-3 power play after a too-many-men penalty and a holding call on Jett Luchanko put Canada down two players.

Martin added his second goal of the game off another feed from McKenna at 9:02 in the third. McKenna completed a give-and-go with Michael Hage to enter the offensive zone before sliding a backhand net-front for Martin, who beat Liv with a deke.

“I thought it was a hard-fought game. It was our first game as a group, and it turned into a bit of defensive game; both teams were playing cat-and-mouse a bit early on,” head coach Dale Hunter said. “I felt like we just had to be responsible defensively and look for our chances. Sweden had some looks on the power play, so we need to be a bit more disciplined and get a few more reps in on the penalty kill.

“We’re still getting used to each other, how we play, the new systems, but I’m happy with the effort here tonight.”

Canada plays Sweden again in its next pre-tournament game Saturday in London, Ont.

The under-20 tournament begins on Dec. 26 in Minneapolis and Saint-Paul, Minn. Canada opens round-robin play against Czechia in Minneapolis, Minn.

Canada is looking to bounce back after finishing a lowly fifth in Ottawa last year, exiting in the quarterfinals for the second straight tournament.

“We haven’t played a game together to this point, just different scrimmages at camp, so for us to play like we did and pick up a win against a real good team like Sweden was great for the group,” McKenna said. “I thought we worked hard; we have some things to clean up, but for our first game it was a solid effort. Guys were building chemistry as the night went on.

“We did a good job on the (penalty) kill tonight, but we don’t want to find ourselves in those situations in the tournament, that was a problem for us last year. Discipline is going to be so important for us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2025.

The Canadian Press