Team Canada’s Future on Display at U18 Canadian Women’s National Championship
As good as the hockey was at the U18 Nationals in Newfoundland & Labrador, spots for U18 Worlds in January were on the line. So, who impressed?
Part II: The Implications
Welcome to part two of the breakdown of the 2025 U18 Canadian Women's National Championship! In the first part, I got to tell the story about just how historic the tournament was. Now we're going to get into which players have put themselves on the inside track for a roster spot come January 2026 for the 2026 IIHF U18 Women's World Hockey Championships. So enjoy this piece, remember the names, and tune in January 10th, 2026, for the first day of U18 Worlds in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Team Canada Implications
While I’m sure Vicky Sunohara, her coaching staff, and the Hockey Canada scouting staff enjoyed their time watching the tournament as much as the fans did, that’s not why they were there. As fun as it was watching the drama unfold, there’s still a job to be done and that’s win gold on home ice in Cape Breton in January 2026. Unless there’s a surprise addition out of the NCAA (like Juliette Thibault who is a 2008 birth year playing in the NCAA) or just in general out of nowhere, this tournament featured Canada’s U18 Worlds team just spread among the different eight teams.
It's up to Sunohara to choose who to bring to Cape Breton and she doesn’t get the benefit of a lot of returnees from the 2025 U18 Worlds gold medal team. Kate Viel and Anais Leprohon are the only two blueliners eligible to return. Half of their forward corps can return in Sofia Ismael, Alida Korte, Maddie McCullough, Hayley McDonald, Rachel Piggot, Caileigh Tiller, and Rosalie Tremblay. Maybe the most interesting part of all is that the goalies are going to be completely new.
