MacKenzie Weegar named to Canada’s IIHF Worlds roster; Zayne Parekh to attend pre-tournament camp

The Calgary Flames will have at least one representative on the ice with the Canadian men’s national team at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. On Thursday, Hockey Canada named blueliner MacKenzie Weegar as one of 15 players on their roster for the Worlds.

Weegar is one of five blueliners named to the roster, along with Noah Dobson, Ryker Evans, Brandon Montour and Travis Sanheim.

Last year, Canada had 24 players on their roster, meaning that there are probably nine spots to be filled, including two on the blueline. Among the contenders for those spots are seven players invited to participate in pre-tournament camp, including Flames top prospect, blueliner Zayne Parekh. The other six players invited to the camp are defenders Nicolas Beaudoin and Harrison Brunicke, and forwards Zach Boychuk, Porter Martone, Brendan Perlini and Ty Ronning.

The game plan appears to be for Canada to fill out their roster with a combination of players that become available as their teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in the coming days… and whoever impresses during the pre-tournament camp. We wouldn’t bet on Parekh making the squad simply because of his youth and relative inexperience compared to those he’ll be competing with, but we’ve honestly been surprised and impressed by Parekh before – and we probably will be again – so we won’t rule anything out.

This is the second go-around for the 31-year-old Weegar with Canada at the Worlds; he previously represented Canada, and captured gold, at the 2023 tournament. For the 19-year-old Parekh, he has yet to represent Canada on the senior team level, but he’s helped his nation capture a gold medal at the 2023 edition of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

The 2025 IIHF World Championship runs May 9-25 in Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark. In addition to Weegar, Parekh and head coach Ryan Huska (and several support staffers) with Canada, the Flames will be represented by Sam Honzek (Slovakia), Dan Vladar and Adam Klapka (Czechia), Rasmus Andersson and Mikael Backlund (Sweden).