“No One Will Remember This”: Parekh Sets Record, Canada Settles for Bronze
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By Nemanja Petković
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Summary:
- Zayne Parekh broke the Canadian defenceman scoring record at the world juniors but downplayed it after missing out on gold.
- Canada rebounded from a semifinal loss to beat Finland 6–3 and finish the tournament with bronze.
- Gavin McKenna and Michael Hage led a strong offensive effort.
Calgary Flames’ Zayne Parekh had just done something no Canadian defenceman had ever done at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. However, his accomplishment barely registered.
The 19-year-old had one goal and one assist in Canada’s 6-3 victory against Finland, a result that raised his total to 13 points, just what he needed to set a new record for a Canadian blueliner at the under-20 event, joining Bryan McCabe and Alex Pietrangelo.
Under normal circumstances, Parekh would have rested on his laurels, but Canada’s bronze finish tasted more bitter than his sweet accomplishment.
It’s just disappointing we didn’t come away with gold. That’s the ultimate goal
The team was coming off another painful semifinal loss to Czechia, the third straight year its gold medal hopes ended at the hands of the Czechs. The win over Finland helped ease the sting, but it didn’t erase it.
Parekh also spent the final days of the tournament walking back comments he made earlier about media interactions and player personality. After those remarks drew attention, he was unavailable to reporters until the tournament wrapped up. When he did speak, he took responsibility.
I think some things got spun out of proportion … probably worded things wrongly. But obviously it wasn’t my intent in the words I said, and I sincerely apologize to the Flames organization and my teammates. At the end of the day, that’s not acceptable and that can’t happen.
Martone: “It’s a Great Result”
On the ice, Canada showed a response many felt had been missing a day earlier. Gavin McKenna was everywhere, finishing with a goal and three assists. Sam O’Reilly scored twice, while Braeden Cootes and Porter Martone rounded out the scoring. Carter George stopped 32 shots.
All of us showed a lot of resilience. It’s a great result to end the tournament with a win.
Michael Hage quietly stole the scoring spotlight, piling up four assists to finish the event with a tournament high 15 points. McKenna followed with 14, and Parekh finished third, one back, from the blue line.
Canada has won the World Juniors 20 times, but this bronze felt complicated. It was only the sixth third-place finish in program history and the first time Canada had even played in the bronze medal game since 2014.
McKenna said,
We had a lot of fun together, a lot of great memories. It sucks we couldn’t get it done.
Zayne Parekh, however, chose to put it more bluntly:
No one will remember this because we didn’t win gold. It’s really unfortunate.
