4 Takeaways From Canada’s 4-1 Loss vs. USA – The Hockey Writers – World Junior Hockey Championship

The final game of the preliminary round for the 2025 World Junior Championship (WJC) was one between two bitter rivals. Canada and the United States went toe-to-toe, with the Americans coming out on top 4-1. The victory clinched first place in Group A for them, while their Canadian counterparts fell to third. What were some takeaways?

United States’ Cole Hutson Making His Case as Tournament’s Best Defenseman

The United States’ Cole Hutson is admittedly being boosted by a five-assist performance against Germany to open the WJC, but his first-period goal and a huge third-period assist against Canada put him up to eight points in the four-game preliminary round. No player has more. As a result, he could have a shot as the tournament’s best defenseman. At the very least, he’ll be in the discussion.

Related: Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship

The left-shot defender was taken by the Washington Capitals 43^rd overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. They acquired the pick from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for depth forward Beck Malenstyn. So far, it’s looking like Washington made out well.

The best defenseman from 2024, Sweden’s Axel Sandin Pellikka, has as good of a chance as anyone to take the title—he is the only other player with eight points. However, a chance at a repeat might be derailed. Hutson’s playmaking ability is a huge asset, but it’s his shot that has given the United States some life recently. He has goals in back-to-back contests.

George Continues to Give Canada a Chance

Throughout the preliminary round, Canada showed they aren’t exactly an offensive powerhouse. While they will possess the puck a lot and hound the opposition with shots, there won’t be many high-danger ones. Even though they’ve had a sizable shot advantage throughout the tournament, Canada is playing a style where not a ton of those will go in. As a result, they need goaltender Carter George to be on his best behavior. His two-game shutout streak was broken by Hutson in the first period but he still gave his team a chance to win.

While he did allow three goals in this game, all of them were on the power play. Canada’s discipline was as bad as it has been all tournament (foreshadowed in their loss to Latvia). George was perfect at 5-on-5 and only has three goals against in three contests, anyhow. He’s been a rock between the pipes and has kept them in games.