FRISCO, TEXAS -- Macklin’s Cole Reschny is coming home with a gold medal from the World Under-18 Men’s Hockey Championship.
Reschny and Team Canada capped an undefeated run through the event with a 7-0 victory over Sweden in the gold medal game on Saturday night in Frisco, Texas.
The current Victoria Royals and former Saskatoon Blazers standout had five goals and eight points in six games after joining Canada when the Royals were eliminated from the Western Hockey League postseason on Apr. 22.
That performance was enough for Reschny to be named one of Canada’s top three players for the tournament.
Asked after the game how it sounds to hear ‘U18 gold medalist’ associated with his name, Reschny was almost in disbelief.
“Unreal, it sounds great,” Reschny said on . “It’s very special, this is a very special group and that just sounds unreal to me.”
Canada had little difficulty throughout the tournament, going 4-0 in the round robin while outscoring their opponents 29-5 in the process.
Things were far more interesting in the quarter-final against Czechia, but Reschny would come up with a pair of huge goals -- tying the game late in the second period and then scoring the overtime winner as Canada took a 3-2 victory.
馃帴 | Cole Reschny scored twice, including the game-winner 2:41 into overtime, as 馃嚚馃嚘 beat 馃嚚馃嚳 in the quarterfinals.
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada)
馃帴 | Cole Reschny marque deux buts, dont celui de la victoire après 2 min 41 s en prolongation, et le 馃嚚馃嚘 bat la 馃嚚馃嚳. |
There were no such dramatics the rest of the way, as Reschny scored a power play goal in Canada’s 4-0 win over Slovakia and then had an assist on Canada’s second marker in the championship final.
Seeing his crew perform as well as they did throughout the week wasn’t much of a surprise, especially knowing how important the event is.
“It’s a world championship, the best are here, so we knew what we had in mind coming in here, and coming in and doing it is pretty special,” Reschny said. “So I’m pretty happy.”
As for the gold medal game, it was simply a matter of Canada firing on all systems.
“We executed the gameplan, everything was going especially five-on-five and I think we dominated them,” Reschny said. “I think they thought it was going to be easier than it was, but we took it to them and didn’t let up and I think that says a lot about our group.”
Here’s a look at Canada’s goals from the gold medal game:
馃帴 | Brady Martin scored twice and Jack Ivankovic made 28 saves as 馃嚚馃嚘 shut out 馃嚫馃嚜 7-0 to win gold at .
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada)
馃帴 | Brady Martin a un doublé, et Jack Ivankovic bloque 28 tirs pour le 馃嚚馃嚘, qui bat la 馃嚫馃嚜 7-0 et gagne l’or au .
It’s the second World U18 gold medal for Reschny this hockey season, as he also suited up for Canada in their Hlinka Gretzky Cup victory this past August.
Reschny will still have some hockey business to attend to in two months time, as he’s ranked 25th among North American skaters heading into the the National Hockey League Entry Draft at the end of June and could go in the first round if things go his way.
