Dylan Cozens is lighting the lamp on a regular basis at the 2024 World Championships.
The championships are taking place in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia.
All of Team Canada’s games have been in Prague.
“This is some of the most fun hockey I’ve ever played in the best atmosphere I’ve ever played. These fans here are incredible.”
Cozens is on a six-game heater at the Worlds. He has scored eight goals and two assists during the streak. His eight goals lead the tournament.
He has also twice been named Player of the Game for Canada.
His latest exploits featured two goals against the host team, including a short-handed overtime winner. Cozens scored with 1:47 left on the clock on a top-shelf backhand over Czechia goaltender Lukas Dostal.
Cozens spoke with TSN after the game.
“This is some of the most fun hockey I’ve ever played in the best atmosphere I’ve ever played. These fans here are incredible.”
Of his team, Cozens said, “There’s no quit. They tie it up and we don’t give up. We get shorthanded and we just find a way. That’s what we do as Canadians.
“We just play for each other. It was an awesome game.”
Cozens’ father Michael emailed the Yukon Star from Prague, where he is taking in the spectacle.
“It is always great to see Dylan play for Canada. He is really passionate about playing for his country and representing the Yukon. All the players play so hard for each other as well as Canada.”
The elder Cozens added what it’s like to watch Dylan have such success at the Worlds.
“We all want to see our children succeed, so of course it is great to see Dylan play so well. But, as Dylan would say, it is a team game, not an individual one, and the greatest pride comes from watching how committed they all are to playing for each other and Canada, and for Dylan to be a contributing part of this experience.”
“We just play for each other. It was an awesome game.”
Cozen’s mom Sue Bogle spoke with the Yukon Star this morning about her son playing on the world stage again.
“It’s one of my favourite things. It’s obviously super-exciting to see him play in the NHL but there’s just something about seeing him play for his country that makes me so happy and so emotional. It just takes it to a different level.”
Of her son’s success at these Worlds, Bogle said, “It’s amazing. We were there two years ago when he went to Worlds at Finland and he did so well then. I was really excited to hear that he was asked to go again this year. I hoped it would be as good an experience overall.”
Bogle said Cozens’ performance has lived up to expectations after his previous Worlds.
“It certainly has, by all accounts, just the experience itself and how he’s feeling playing with these guys and his confidence and his level of success. It’s great.”
Bogle had a FaceTime conversation with Cozens this morning.
“He’s just really having fun. I said to him, ‘That’s so great because that’s how it all started when you were three years old playing hockey. It was all about fun. It’s a game.’ This ability to remember it’s a game and to have fun out there, I think it’s really translating into the success that he’s having.”
Bogle said Cozens is soaking up the scene in Prague.
“He just loves that atmosphere.”
Both of Cozen’s parents also mentioned how special it is for their son to be playing with Team Canada captain John Tavares.
Michael Cozens said it’s “great for him to have the opportunity to play with a great person, player, and leader like John Tavares, as well as all the other players.”
Bogle added that Cozens is “always proud to play for Canada and for the Yukon. They’ve mentioned the ‘Workhorse from Whitehorse’ (Cozen’s nickname coined by TSN’s Craig Button) a few times and it’s also neat to hear them mention Gavin McKenna, too.”
McKenna, of course, recently set a Canadian points record at the U18 Worlds in Finland.
Bogle said their success definitely puts a small community like Whitehorse on the map.
Up next for Cozens and the Canadians is a quarterfinal match with Slovakia early tomorrow morning on TSN. The World Championship website has the Yukon time listed as 7:20 a.m.
