Three goals from Dima Zhilkin led Canada to a comfortable victory over Norway in Trencin on Saturday.

The 8-0 scoreline gives the defending champion two wins from three games at the 2026 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship and Drew Bannister’s youngsters are tied on six points with Slovakia and Finland. The latter nations go head-to-head tonight to determine leadership of Group A.

But Zhilkin’s treble was the talk of this game. Just ask the forward’s room-mate, Ryan Lin, who had two assists of his own this afternoon.

“We’ve been getting along really good,” said the defender. “Dima’s an unbelievable player, you can see how he gets himself into good ice and he knows how to get that scoring touch.”

Zhilkin himself preferred to share the credit. Two of his goals were assisted by Tynan Lawrence, and Dima returned the favour with a helper for his line-mate.

“I think our chemistry has been developing from the start of the tournament,” he said. “Playing with Ty, I think helps a little bit. I’m with some great players and it’s fun to play with them.”

Norway, meanwhile, fell to a third successive loss. Kim Veisten’s players must rebound to beat Latvia in Sunday’s sole game, or face a relegation playoff against the fifth-placed team from Group B.

Alternate captain Sondre Berg acknowledged that matching Canada was always a big ask.

“It was a fast game,” he said. “I don’t think we reached our potential level today, but we keep moving and we’ll look forward to Latvia tomorrow.”

It took Canada a few shifts to settle into its game and in that time Norway managed a couple of half chances. However, the underdog could not seriously trouble Gavin Betts, who was back in the Canadian net after leaving the opening night loss to Slovakia with cramp.

And it wasn’t long before the play was at the other end. Norway killed a penalty, but fell behind at equal strength midway through the opening frame. Lin found Beckett Hamilton on the doorstep and the forward took a touch to get it out of his skates before lifting the puck over Felix Timraz-Westin.

Zhilkin’s first notable moment saw him stickhandle his way to the net, but he couldn’t beat the goalie on that occasion. And soon after, Timraz-Westin made a great blocker save to deny Maddox Dagenais after he robbed William Backlund of the puck and bore down on goal.
 
Canada did not have to wait long for more goals. In the 17th minute Zhilkin redirected a Mathis Preston feed into the net, then he assisted as Lawrence added a third just before the intermission for a second power play goal of the game.

Thirty-two seconds into the middle frame, Zhilkin thought he had another goal when he deflected the puck home after Ben McBeath drilled it into a crowd on the crease. Veisten challenged the play, correctly claiming that Timraz-Westin was impeded in the melee.

The reprieve was short-lived. Barely a minute later, Jaxon Jacobson scored a legitimate fourth goal to end any lingering hope that Norway might make it a contest.

Instead, Zhilkin completed his hat-trick in the middle frame. His second was a routine finish after the Norwegian defence gave the freedom of the slot to convert a Lawrence feed.

Then, after Olivers Freimanis took over in the Norway net, Zhilkin circled around the zone to complete his hat-trick on 37:31.

“We played a lot of defence,” Berg added. “We learned about how fast, how tough it can be to play at this level. But we have to put this behind us now and move on.”

Norway came close to a consolation goal when Berge Nergaard showed some great skill to skate to the net and pose a rare test for Betts. But that was a rare lapse from Canada. The third period brought further goals from Jacobson, his second of the night, and Zach Olsen.

A shot count 66-13 for Canada underlined the dominance. “I thought we played well for the full 60 and that was a key point,” Zhilkin concluded.