Four nations — Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the USA — are competing at the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase this week in Minnesota, giving an early look at the competition coming in this year's World Junior Championships as always starting on Boxing Day.
Macklin native, and Calgary Flames first round pick Cole Reschny is on the roster among 44 other Team Canada hopefuls. Other highlights on the roster include another Flames prospect Zayne Parekh on defense, recent Penn State commit and phenom Gavin McKenna joining Reschny in the forward group, and Saskatoon Blades goalie Evan Gardner taking one of the goalie invites.
The 20 forwards, 12 defensemen, and four goalies played a Red vs White exhibition on Tuesday with Team White taking a 4-3 shootout win. Their tournament now continues as one team with a game against Finland on Wednesday, Sweden on Friday, and then a showdown with the USA on Sunday to close out the mini tournament.
The games started back on Sunday with USA also splitting into a joint squad, Team White beating Finland 5-2 while Team Blue lost to Sweden 5-2. The U.S. split squads took the ice again Monday, Team Blue losing 3-2 to Finland while Team White lost 4-3 to Sweden.