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Canucks: Braeden Cootes and Team Canada earn Bronze Medal at 2026 World Juniors
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Photo credit: Steven Ellis | The Nation Network
Dave Hall
Jan 5, 2026, 19:53 EST
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Vancouver Canucks 2025 first-round pick Braeden Cootes is heading back to the WHL with hardware.
Canada closed out the 2026 World Junior Championship with a 6–3 victory over Finland, capturing the bronze medal and ending a two-year medal drought for the program. The win marked Canada’s first medal since winning gold in 2023 and its first bronze since 2012 — a tournament that also ended with a victory over the Finns.
After a heartbreaking semifinal loss to Czechia, Canada earned a chance at redemption against a Finnish team that had fallen to Sweden in an overtime thriller the night before.

Canada strikes early, trades first-period blows

The game opened at a frantic pace. Canada wasted little time getting on the board, as Michael Hage slipped a perfect feed to Sam O’Reilly just over a minute into the contest, setting up a crafty finish to make it 1–0.
Finland answered immediately on its first shot. Arttu Väliäla collected a drop pass in the slot, used traffic to his advantage, and snapped a shot past Carter George’s blocker to even the score.
The chaos continued moments later, and this time, it came off the stick of a Canucks prospect.
Braeden Cootes jumped on a pass from Keaton Verhoeff, cut to the middle, spun toward the net, and snapped a shot blocker-side to restore Canada’s lead before the five-minute mark.
Just past the midpoint of the opening frame, Canada ran into penalty trouble. Finland capitalized after a failed clearing attempt, working the puck around the umbrella before Julius Miettinen dropped to one knee and fired a shot through George to tie the game at two.
However, Canada had the final say in the period. On the power play, Zayne Parekh walked the blue line and wired a wrist shot bar-down, capping the first with a 3–2 Canadian lead.
The goal was Parekh’s 12th point of the tournament, tying Alex Pietrangelo and Bryan McCabe for the most points by a Canadian defenceman in a single World Junior event.

Parekh makes history, Canada pulls away

Parekh didn’t wait long to break the record outright.
Early in the second period, he pinched aggressively to keep a puck alive, which eventually found its way to Tij Iginla. Iginla slid the puck to Porter Martone in the slot, and the winger made no mistake, beating Petteri Rimpinen clean to double Canada’s lead. With the assist, Parekh became the most productive defenceman in Canadian World Junior history with 13 points.
Canada continued to press. Minutes later, O’Reilly struck again, redirecting a Gavin McKenna one-timer to make it 5–2 and put Canada firmly in control.
Finland pushed back late in the period, cutting the deficit to two when Heikki Ruohonen slipped a shot under George’s blocker off the rush, but Canada settled things in the third.
After spending much of the tournament as a facilitator, McKenna grabbed his fourth goal after finding multiple teammates with opportunities. McKenna jumped on a rebound to triple the team’s lead en route to the Bronze Medal finish.
Team Canada: You’re the 2026 Bronze Medal winners.

What it means for Cootes and Canada

After earning Gold at the U18’s back in May, Cootes wins his second medal within a year. Over seven games, the Alberta native averaged 8:48 of ice time, contributing two goals and seven shots as a fourth-line depth player. As an 18-year-old, he is eligible to return in 2027, where he’s likely to enjoy a much larger role (if loaned from Vancouver).
Reports indicate that Cootes was traded from the Seattle Thunderbirds to the Prince Albert Raiders on Monday. However, nothing has been made official. He has 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) through 17 games as captain of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
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