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World Championships Recap Day 8: Zach Whitecloud and Olli Määttä held pointless in Team Canada and Team Finland’s wins
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
May 23, 2026, 11:00 EDTUpdated: May 23, 2026, 10:32 EDT
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There are just four days left in the preliminary round of the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
Two Calgary Flames defencemen were in action on Friday, as Zach Whitecloud’s Team Canada defeated Team Slovenia by a score of 3-1, while Team Finland’s Olli Määttä defeated Team Great Britain 4-0.
Let’s take a look at what happened in those two games, the other two games that were played on Friday, and set up Friday’s schedule.

Team Canada vs Team Slovenia

After just barely defeating Team Norway on Thursday, Team Canada was right back in action on Saturday against Team Slovenia.
Midway through the first period, Denton Mateychuk opened the scoring for the Canadians. With about seven left to play in the second period, Dylan Cozens scored to give Team Canada a 2-0 lead after 40.
Then about seven minutes into the third period, Emmitt Finnie found twine to give the Canadians a 3-0 lead. The Slovenian’s lone goal of the game came courtesy of Rožle Bohinc, who scored with 65 seconds left to play.
It wasn’t a great game for Whitecloud, as he was just one of two Canadian players with a negative plus/minus. The right-shot defenceman played a little under 17 minutes and didn’t register a shot on goal. After five games, Whitecloud still hasn’t registered a point.

Team Finland vs Team Hungary

The other game featuring a Flame saw Määttä’s Team Finland defeat Team Great Britain 4-0. Ville Heinola opened the scoring for the Finns just 58 seconds into the game, which was the game-winner.
They extended their lead eight and a half minutes into the second period thanks to Heinola’s second goal of the game, then took a 3-2 lead thanks to Mikko Lehtonen’s goal about four minutes later.
With the win already secured, Henri Jokiharju found the back of the net with 70 seconds remaining, giving the Finns a 4-0 victory.
Like Whitecloud, Määttä played a little under 17 minutes of ice time, but finished with two shots on goal and was an even zero in terms of plus/minus. After five games, the left-shot defenceman has two assists and is a plus-3.

Other notes…

There were two other games on Friday, as Team Germany defeated Team Hungary by a score of 6-2, while Team Sweden defeated Team Italy by a score of 3-0.
The other three Flames players will be in action on Saturday. At 4:20 a.m. MT, Devin Cooley and Matt Coronato’s Team USA plays Team Latvia in Group A action. Shortly after, Martin Pospíšil’s Team Slovakia takes on Team Czechia, with a start time of 8:20 a.m. MT. It’ll be an important one if you’re rooting for Team Canada.
As it stands, Team Canada is first in Group B with 14 points over 14 games. If the Slovaks are to win that game in regulation, they’ll match Team Canada’s point total with just two games to play, one being against Team Canada. Both Team Slovakia and Team Czechia have a chance to win the group.
The other early game (4:20 a.m. MT) sees Team Slovenia play Team Denmark. Team Switzerland plays Team Hungary at 8:20 AM MT in Group A action. And finally, the two late games sees Team Germany play Team Austria at 12:20 p.m. MT, while Team Sweden plays Team Norway in Group B action.
Team Canada plays Team Slovakia on Sunday at 12:20 p.m. MT.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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