HIGH ACHIEVERS: Frenette, Edmonds key Canadian contributors to men’s hockey gold at FISU Games

By Martin Cleary

Canada scored one goal in each period and successfully defended its title at the FISU World Winter University Games on Wednesday in Turin, Italy, with a 3-1 decision over Slovakia.

The Canadian roster included four players with Ottawa connections, including Toronto Metropolitan University’s Kai Edmonds of Ottawa, who also was the goalkeeper when Canada won the 2023 Games’ gold medal in Lake Placid, New York.

“This tournament was undoubtedly more competitive than Lake Placid,” Edmonds said via FISU. “Slovakia is a strong team, and when they were only down by one, we knew they’d come hard at us in the third period.”

Sasha Mutala of the University of British Columbia, Colson Gengenbach of the University of Calgary and Jack Duff of Queen’s University scored for Canada in the final. Gatineau’s Conor Frenette of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières assisted on Gengenbach’s game-winning goal.

Edmonds stopped 24 of the 25 Slovakia shots, while Canada took 42 shots on Slovakia goalie Patrik Andrisik.

Gatineau’s Mathieu Gagnon of McGill University and Franky Lapenna of the University of Ottawa and Laval, PQ, also were on the Canadian roster. Gagnon recorded one goal from nine shots on net, one assist and was a plus-3. Lapenna dressed for three games and played in one period of one preliminary-round game.

“A lot of our team comes from top programs in Canada,” noted Edmonds, a Franco-Cité high school grad. “Whether it’s competing nationally or playing in single-elimination tournaments, we’ve all been in these situations before. That experience set us up for success.”

Canada reached the championship game by overwhelming the United States 10-2 in the semifinals. The U.S. led 2-1 in the second period before Canada responded by scoring nine unanswered goals.

Ten different players scored for Canada in the dominating semi-final win. Frenette had one goal and one assist, while Edmonds blocked 12 of 14 shots. Canada peppered American goalies Konrad Kausch and Douglas Wakelyn with 64 shots.

Frenette was the top offensive player in the FISU men’s hockey competition with 12 points based on six goals and six assists. Andrey Buyalskiy of Kazakhstan and Mutala also counted 12 points, but Frenette finished on top because he had two more goals than the other two players.

In seven games, Frenette’s six goals came off 21 shots and he tied for third place in that category. He also was deadlocked in fifth place in assists with six.

Edmonds was the leading goalkeeper with a 1.44 goals-against average in six games and a .920 save percentage.

BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONS! pic.twitter.com/64kyuMVBpA— U SPORTS Team Canada (@USPORTSIntl) January 22, 2025

On Tuesday, Canada fared well in the women’s and men’s 4×7.5-kilometre cross-country ski relay races.

The women’s team of the University of Calgary’s Stella Duncan of Chelsea, PQ, Sarah Cullinan of the University of Calgary, and the Carleton University pair of Helen McCulligh of Kanata, and Sophia Giangrande of Whitehorse placed seventh in one hour, 28 minutes, 19.9 seconds, which left them 7:22.9 behind gold-medallist Finland.

The Canadian team of Xavier Normandin of CEGEP FX Garneau, Ottawa’s Robin Mason and Noah Weir Chaba, both of the University of Calgary, and Alexis Ermel of Université Laval were seventh in the 15-country race in 1:12:21.8. Japan earned the gold and was 3:35.9 ahead of Canada.

The Games are scheduled to end Thursday with the final competitions in cross-country skiing, curling and short-track speed skating as well as the closing ceremony.

The University of Calgary’s Sienna Brennan-Raab of Chelsea, McCulligh and Duncan are slated to race the women’s 20-kilometre classic mass start, while Laval’s Mats Halvorsen of Chelsea and Mason are on the start list for the men’s 20-kilometre classic mass start.