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2026 IIHF World Championship Day 14: Finland beats Canada
Team Canada IIHF World Championships
Ryley Delaney
May 30, 2026, 19:08 EDT
After going undefeated in their first eight games, Canada suffered their first defeat at the worst possible time.
The lone Edmonton Oilers player remaining in the tournament, Darnell Nurse, suited up for Canada in their game on Sunday afternoon. Playing the Finns in the semi-finals with a chance for gold on the line, Canada dropped a 4-2 decision, meaning they’ll play for the bronze medal on Sunday against Norway.
Let’s take a look at how Nurse and the Canadians performed.

Canada vs. Finland

Things didn’t start off great for the Canadians. Just three and a half minutes into the game, Patrik Puistola opened the scoring for the Finns. If Puistola’s name sounds familiar, the Oilers acquired him in the Jesse Puljujärvi trade back before the 2023 trade deadline. The two players will now play for the gold medal on the same team.
Anyway, the Canadians got back on the board just over eight minutes into the game, as Robert Thomas beat Justus Annunen to knot the game up at one. Former Oiler Dylan Holloway picked up an assist on Thomas’ goal, then scored a goal of his own about five and a half minutes into the first period.
The Canadians led 2-1 after 20 minutes, but the second period is where they lost the game. Just 48 seconds in, Aleksander Barkov scored to tie the game at two. Konsta Helenius scored the game winner with 8:32 to play in the middle frame, followed by Aatu Räty’s goal with about seven to play in the second period.
Down two, Canada dominated the third period, outshooting the Finns 14-2, but were unable to beat Annunen once in what was a 4-2 defeat. Their tournament isn’t over, but it was a disappointing tournament nonetheless.
Nurse had a tough game, playing just under 19 minutes and finishing with four shots on goal, but finishing as a -2 on the day. For the tournament, Nurse has six assists in nine games, and is an even 0 in terms of +/-.

Other notes…

With the loss, Canada now hasn’t won a gold medal at the World Championships since 2023, their 28th gold medal at the tournament. In fact, they haven’t even won a medal since 2023, as they lost the bronze medal game to Sweden in 2024 and were bounced by Denmark in the quarter-finals last tournament.
While they can’t win the gold, they can win their first medal since 2023 as they’ll play Norway for bronze. That game has a start time of 7:30 AM MT on Sunday and is the penultimate game of the tournament, as Switzerland and Finland will battle for the gold at 12:20 PM MT.

Past recaps


Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.