FRISCO, Texas – Twenty-five players have been named to Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team as it looks to defend its gold medal at the 2025 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship, April 23-May 3 in Frisco and Allen, Texas. Of the 25 players selected, four are alumni of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.

GTHL ALUMNI (4)

• Alessandro Di Iorio (Vaughan Kings) 
• Ethan Czata (Mississauga Rebels) 
• Lev Katzin (Toronto Marlboros) 
• Jack Ivankovic (Mississauga Senators) 

Three goaltenders, eight defencemen and 14 forwards – representing seven Members – were selected by head scout Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB), general manager Scott Walker (Cambridge, ON) and Kyle Turris (New Westminster, BC), of the management group, with input from Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON), director, hockey operations.

Among the players are 12 who won a gold medal with Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup (Beauchesne, Beckman, Cootes, Czata, Hopkins, Huang, Ivankovic, Kilfoil, Martin, Reschny, Schmidt, Smith), seven that suited up at the 2024 U17 World Challenge, including four who won gold with Canada White (Edwards, Lin, Rudolph, Verhoeff) and three who are making their Program of Excellence debut (Gard, Hood, Sawchyn).

Canada opens the 2025 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship today, taking on Slovakia (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT). Canada will also play Latvia, Finland and Norway in the preliminary round before the tournament concludes with the medal games on May 3.

For more information on the 2025 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship, please visit the official tournament website at IIHF.com.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca.