Don’t tell Jack Ivankovic that he’s too small to succeed as a top-level goaltender.
On Saturday, the 17-year-old won his second-straight gold medal at the 2025 IIHF world under-18 men’s championship. He made 28 saves against Sweden, which had been the highest-scoring team in the tournament heading into the gold-medal game. When the same two sides met in pre-tournament action on Apr. 21, Ivankovic allowed six goals on 20 shots over two periods in an 8-3 win for the Swedes.
Once the tournament began in Allen and Frisco, Texas, Ivankovic allowed just six goals in the six games he played. He was named the tournament’s top goaltender with a .961 save percentage and two shutouts — in Canada’s 4-0 semi-final win over Slovakia and in the gold-medal game.
The Canadians’ biggest challenge in the tournament came in their quarter-final matchup against Czechia. That went to overtime, tied 2-2, before Cole Reschny scored the game-winner at 2:41 of the sudden-death extra frame.
The U18 tournament features players born in 2007 or later, and is the last international showcase for top prospects before the NHL Draft. The 2025 edition will take place in Los Angeles on June 27-28.
Ivankovic will be one of the players waiting to hear his name called at the Peacock Theatre — and his performance in Texas may raise his draft stock. He sits fourth among North American goaltenders in the final 2025 draft rankings by NHL Central Scouting. That’s due to a decent-but-unspectacular regular season with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads, where he finished with a 25-12-5 record and .903 save percentage.
Also, Ivankovic checks in at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds. In NHL goaltending circles, bigger is almost always better.
Recency bias might make teams more willing to flaunt the conventional wisdom in June, however. In 2019, Dustin Wolf checked in at 6-feet and 161 pounds when he was drafted 214th overall by the Calgary Flames — fourth-last in the entire draft.
After working his way up the ranks and winning two goalie of the year awards in the American Hockey League, Wolf became a top candidate for the NHL’s Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2024-25. At 23, Wolf put up a record of 29-16-8 with a .910 save percentage and 11.9 goals saved above expected, fueling an unexpected push for a playoff spot by the Flames which lasted until the second-last game of the season.
Other Canadians who likely saw their draft stock rise by bringing home gold at U18s include forwards Brady Martin and Braeden Cootes. Martin, a fiery center with the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds, finished with 11 points and was named to the tournament all-star team. He’s currently ranked No. 11 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Cootes, who wore the C for Canada, finished with a team-leading 12 points. The Seattle Thunderbirds center in the WHL is ranked No. 20.
But the player whose stock likely rose the most is Swedish left wing Filip Ekberg. After putting up 45 points in 53 games with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s this season, Ekberg landed at No. 178 among North American skaters on Central Scouting’s list — in the range where even getting drafted is far from guaranteed.
But the cerebral 18-year-old flipped that narrative in Texas. He finished with a tournament-leading 18 points in seven games and earned MVP honors, as well as being named to the all-star team.
Swedish defenseman Sascha Boumedienne also earned all-star honors. He finished second in tournament scoring with 14 points. The 18-year-old, who went to the 2025 Frozen Four final as a freshman with Boston University last month, sits at No. 18 among North American skaters on the Central Scouting list.
The 2024-25 schedule has now concluded for draft-eligible players in Europe and in the NCAA, but playoffs continue in the North American league play.
In the USHL, the best-of-five Clark Cup final between the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Waterloo Black Hawks begins on Friday, May 9. In the Canadian Hockey League, the WHL Final will see Gavin McKenna and the Medicine Hat Tigers take on the Spokane Chiefs, while the London Knights and Oshawa General square off in the OHL.
In the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats await the winner of the semi-final series between the Rimouski Oceanic and Shawinigan Cataracte. Rimouski currently leads 3-2, with Game 6 set for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
International play seems to agree with Jack Ivankovic. Last summer, he gave up three goals in four games for a .967 save percentage on his way to gold for Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He was also on Canada’s roster for its gold-medal win at U18s in Finland, though he didn’t see any game action.
