Team USA falls to Canada at the World Cup, but the Olympic victory keeps the Americans at the top of hockey

Canada retaliated.

Sort of.

Three months after Team USA stunned Canada in overtime To win Olympic gold, the Canadians defeated the Americans 4-0 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship in Fribourg, Switzerland.

Canada celebrates Macklin Celebrini’s goal during the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship game against the United States. (EyesWideOpen/Getty Images)

Canada won this one.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the United States took home the much bigger prize.

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The Americans entered the World Championship as the tournament’s defending champions and were fresh off their Olympic breakthrough, but this was not the same Team USA group that reached the top of the hockey world in February.

The roster included Matthew Tkachuk, one of the faces of USA hockey and one of the sport’s most important players, but not the entire best-on-best roster that won gold.

American forward Matthew Tkachuk controls Canadian forward Mark Scheifele during the quarterfinals of the IIHF Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship. (Stof Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

No Austin Matthews. No Jack Eichel. No Quinn Hughes. No Connor Hellebuyck. No Jack Hughes, whose overtime goal against Canada won the Olympic title. In fact, Tkachuk was the only player on both the gold medal-winning Olympic roster and the IIHF World Championship roster.

Canada, meanwhile, looked like a team that saw the World Championship as an opportunity to make a point.

Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, John Tavares, Mark Scheifele, Evan Bouchard, Morgan Rielly and Darnell Nurse gave Canada a roster that felt much closer to a statement team than a typical World Cup group after the NHL season.

And they played like that.

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But before Canada broke through on the scoreboard, the game had its nastiest moment in the first period. Team USA defenseman Ryan Lindgren was ejected after an illegal check to the head or neck of Bouchard, who was left on the ice and had to be helped off the field. He did not return to the match.

Canada finally took control late in the first period when Celebrini opened the scoring on the power play. Dylan Holloway made it 2–0 in the second, and Connor Brown and Sidney Crosby added empty-net goals in the third to finish off the Americans and advance to the semifinals.

The US never found its footing, which was the case for most of the tournament. Team USA lost to Switzerland, Finland and Latvia in group play, while Great Britain, Germany were defeated in a shootout, Hungary and Austria to claim the final Group A quarterfinal.

Yet the bigger picture reality has not changed.

The United States remains at the top of the hockey world because the Americans won when the sport’s biggest prize was on the line. Not only in men’s hockey, but also in women’s hockey.

Canada can celebrate Thursday’s result, and it should. Beating the Americans in an elimination match always matters, especially after watching the US celebrate Olympic gold at Canada’s expense.

American fans cheer during the quarterfinals of the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship between Canada and the United States. (Monika Majer/RvS.Media/Getty Images)

But when the question is which country would prefer to swap places, there is no debate.

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Canada got to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Team USA won the Olympic gold medals.

Those are the ones that matter.

Dan Zaksheske is a reporter at OutKick.

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