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Team Canada's Issac Wong. (Image Credit: Canadian Lacrosse League)
Sports

Canada and USA play for gold at IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship in Brooks on Friday

Jul 3, 2026 | 9:49 AM

The five-team International Indoor Junior Lacrosse (IIJL) World Junior Lacrosse Championship in Brooks wraps up on Friday.

Canada will play the United States in the gold medal game at the Centennial Regional Arena at 8 p.m. Before that, at 5 p.m., Poland takes on Haudenosaunee, a team represented by Indigenous players.

The gold medal game is a rematch of the 13-12 round robin match, won by the Americans on Canada Day.

USA is looking to repeat as champions after winning the 2025 event, where Canada won bronze. Canada last won gold in 2025.

The first IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship was played in 2016.

Canada has won four times against international competition, while the USA has won the event twice.

The 22-man Canadian team includes nine members of the Taber-based Southern Alberta Chaos team from the Tier II division of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) and two from the Medicine Hat-based Bandlands Sun Devils.

Poland also recruited several players from both RMLL teams to fill out their roster for the tournament.

Australia was eliminated from the playoffs.

The six-day tournament featuring players 21 years of age or younger began on June 28.