Canada has a shot at gold on the ice at Rogers Place this week. A national under-18 squad sporting the maple leaf is hosting the eight-team Hlinka Gretzky Cup through Saturday. The elite tournament is being watched not only by families, friends and fans in the seats of Edmonton’s downtown arena but by several National Hockey League scouts. It’s the fourth time Rogers Place has hosted the tournament, which has rotated between Edmonton/Red Deer and the Czech Republic since 2018. Hockey Canada, the Czech Ice Hockey Association, and the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation administer it. Canadian assistant coach Kyle Chipchura, a former NHLer from Westlock who is also an assistant with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, said donning the maple leaf as a player or as a coach is an honour that they keep in mind while competing. “There are a lot of players who would die to be in their shoes, and I think they recognize that,” said Chipchura, who captained Canada’s gold-medal-winning junior squad 20 years ago. “I think they’ve represented themselves well with the way they conduct themselves, the way they prepare and the way they’ve been performing.” The Canadians and teams from the United States, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Czechia, Germany and Switzerland play through Saturday. The round-robin runs Monday to Wednesday with the playoff rounds on Saturday and Sunday. TSN is broadcasting the tournament. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum
