Czech Republic won the tournament in 2000 and followed it up with another gold in 2001.
Russia then went on to win in 2002 and 2003.
And then there is Canada.
They won 5 in a row from 2005-2009, and then they won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.
That’s part of what makes this tournament so special.
The World Championships are fine.
The Olympics will be great again once NHL players can compete.
But until then, the World Juniors is the pinnacle of international ice hockey.
And every country dreams about sending the best crop of 19-year-olds out there to take home gold.
So to be able to maintain that consistency year over year is pretty difficult.
Last year’s tournament was one of the more dominant routes we’ve seen out of USA Hockey ever.
They went undefeated throughout the whole tournament.
Sure, they needed a shootout to take down the Czechs in group play.
But they won their 3 medal round games by a combined 10 goals.
You win the gold medal game by 4 goals against Sweden while playing IN Sweden?
That’s as much of a statement as you’ll see in this tournament.
Now like I said, it’s extremely rare that teams win back-to-back golds at the WJC.
In fact, USA Hockey has never done it before.
There are going to be plenty of obstacles in the way these next couple of weeks in Ottawa.
The Czechs are always pesky.
Finland is always a threat.
That’s not to say that USA isn’t arguably the most complete team in this tournament.
They have the best goalie returning to his 3rd World Juniors.
An experienced blue line with plenty of playmaking abilities.
No offense or anything, but they really just don’t have the ability to compete in this tournament.
There’s no Nico Hischier.
There’s no Tim Stutzle.
You already know everything you gotta know about these teams.
The two big goals for these teams are to enjoy the experience, and avoid relegation.
USA obviously coming off of last year’s win, and a gold at the 2023 U18 tournament.
That automatically makes Group A the “group of death”.
Sweden should fairly easily come out of group B as the top seed.
All things considered, this year’s tournament is a 3-horse race.
It’s USA, it’s Canada, and it’s Sweden.
But there’s a clear gap from the top 3 teams in this tournament to everybody else.
Now you’ll see why.
Team USA
Usually whenever I do these previews, I like to start from the net out.
On his line wereGabe Perreault (2023 NYR 1st Rd)andRyan Leonard (2023 WAS 1st Rd).
The three of them put up a combined 55 points in 7 games.
Will Smith would still be eligibile for this year’s tournament based on age.
So who do they replace him with?James Hagens (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
Hagens led the 2024 U18 tournament in points and won MVP with 22 points in 7 games.
He’s likely going to be the 1st overall pick in this upcoming summer’s draft.
All 3 players are top 20 in scoring so far this year in the NCAA.
Having a legitimate top line of superstars is hard enough to get in this tournament.
But to have a top line who have all played together this whole season so far?
That’s almost unheard of.
So having that built-in chemistry makes this line the most dangerous in the tournament by far.
Again, it’s really important to have a strong group of 19-year-olds to do well in this tournament.
Buium had a breakout tournament last year where he seemed to skyrocket his draft stock during the tournament.
And he’s been playing even better this year as a sophomore at Denver.
He should be one of the top 2 defensemen in this year’s tournament.
Great skater, great stick, should be a total game changer out there for USA.
I’d expect Cole Hutson (2024 WAS 2nd Rd) to be the guy.
14 points in 16 games as a freshman defenseman.
Not bad at all.
And last but not least….
This is going to be theTrey Augustine (2023 DET 2nd Rd)tournament.
He’s playing in his 3rd World Juniors this year.
He played for the senior team at the World Championships last year.
He’s the best goalie in the tournament and the most experienced.
And whenever he needs a day off,Sam Hillebrandtalso returns from last year’s squad.
That’s not the case this year.
The haters are sick because Canada’s roster is back to being absolutely fucking loaded.
They have a tournament high 10 1st round picks on the team.
And then, of course, there is Gavin McKenna (2026 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
Gavin McKenna is still 2 years away from making his NHL debut.
That, of course, is because he’s not draft eligible until 2026.
And this year he already has 60 points in 30 games in the WHL.
Once again, he’s not draft eligible until 2026.
And it’ll be Calum Ritchie leading the way.
Ritchie will be the 1C for Team Canada this year.
Since getting sent back to junior, he has 34 points in 18 games with Oshawa.
I’d expect a massive tournament out of him.
Easton Cowan (2023 TOR 1st)also looks like he’s heating up for a big tournament.
He has unreal speed.
He has great awareness and positional discipline in the defensive zone.
Porter Martone could go anywhere from 1st to 5th in the upcoming draft.
If you are interested in a true 1C for years to come, this is your guy.
He’s huge (6'3", 207 lbs), and is a point scoring machine.
54 points in 26 games this year for theMississaugaBrampton Steelheads.
All while wearing the ‘C’ as a kid who just turned 18 in October.
Defensively, Team Canada doesn’t have a ton of returners from last year.
There isSam Dickinson (2024 SJS 1st Rd)andOliver Bonk (2023 PHI 1st Rd).
Oliver had 67 points in 60 games last year while helping lead the London Knights to an OHL Championship.
Which then opens up the offensive role for a guy likeTanner Molendyk (2023 NSH 1st Rd).
I mean Jesus fucking Christ.
Just look at the way this kid skates.
This kid gets a head of steam against you and you’re toast.
In between the pipes for Team Canada is arguably the best tandem in the tournament.
They haveCarter George (2024 LAK 2nd Rd)andCarson Bjarnason (2023 PHI 2nd Rd).
Carter George was the best goaltender at the 2024 U18’s where Canada took home the gold medal.
Bjarnason is the best goalie in the WHL so far this year.
He has a .913 sv% through 16 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Mainly because I feel like they’re always playing in the gold medal game.
Obviously that’s going to send this Swedish team into Ottawa with a sense of “unfinished business”.
Their best hope isn’t to keep up, but rather slow them down.
Which they’ll be able to do with the top pair of defensemen they have returning this year.
It shouldn’t be a shock to anybody that Sweden constantly has elite defensemen coming up through the pipeline.
Axel Sandin Pellikka is the next up in that line of great Swedish defensemen.
Last year he won the Salming Trophy as the best defenseman in Sweden.
As an 18-year-old helping to lead Skelleftea AIK to an SHL Championship.
Like what are we even talking about here?
The guy who won it the year before was 12 years older.
Theo Lindstein is also playing in the top Swedish league this year.
So per usual, Sweden is bringing a blueline to this tournament that can compete with anybody.
The forward group is where this team starts to fall off a little bit.
He had a strong tournament last year putting up 9 points in 7 games.
He only managed to put up 3 assists in last year’s tournament.
But he’s having a pretty solid start to the season with Frolunda in the top Swedish league.
13 points in 22 games.
And then honestly I have no idea about how Sweden is going to look between the pipes.
Hugo Havelid was the best goalie in last year’s tournament, but he’s aged out.
So I’d assume that’s the guy for them this year.
Sweden is maybe just a step down from them.
And then that’s where we get to Finland, Slovakia and Czech Republic.
These 3 teams are all going to be on Spoiler Alert this tournament.
I don’t think any of them have a realistic shot of playing for a gold medal.
But they can definitely make it difficult to come away with a bronze.
Finland finished in 4th place in last year’s tournament.
Then they gave up 5 goals in the 3rd period to the Czechs, and left empty handed.
That is, of course, besidesKonsta Helenius (2024 BUF 1st Rd).
The only other 1st round pick on this roster isEmil Hemming (2024 DAL 1st Rd).
He’s also been playing in North America this year, playing for the Barrie Colts in the OHL.
So that should give him a little more familiarity with the Canadian team and that style of play.
He was originally projected to be a high-end 1st round draft pick.
Like we’re talking 1st overall high end.
He’ll wear the C for Finland in this tournament.
He wore the C for Finland at the U18 Worlds last year.
If Kiviharju has a strong tournament then there’s a good chance that Finland has a strong tournament.
Team Slovakia
Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard and James Hagens are all studs.
Gavin McKenna is generational.
Konsta Helenius will be a weapon.
This will be his FOURTH World Juniors appearance, and obviously his last.
In those previous 3 tournaments, he’s scored 11 points in 14 games.
I think there’s a chance he doubles his production this year.
He has 11 goals and 21 points in 27 games so far this season in the AHL.
He scored 45 goals in 52 games last year in the OHL.
He has one of the most lethal shots in this tournament.
And he gets to just leave it all out there.
The Slovakians have finished in 4th in each of the last 2 U18 tournaments.
They had a strong group stage showing at last year’s WJC before crashing out in the quarterfinal.
Also, another player to keep an eye on isLuka Radivojevic (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
He should be a mid-to-late 1st round pick in this upcoming draft.
This will already be his 2nd appearance at the world juniors.
He has 10 assists through 19 games so far this year with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.
Team Czechia
Jiri Kulich ain’t walking through that door.
He was a huge part of what made this Czech group so successful over the last few years.
Eduard Sale (2023 SEA 1st Rd)is a good player with silky hands.
He’s been playing this season in the AHL with Coachella Valley.
But he hasn’t really taken that step to look like a dominant 19-year-old heading into this tournament.
But he’s just coming off an ACL injury.
So who knows what level of Adam Jiricek we’ll actually get to see in this tournament.
He plays college hockey for UMass, so he’s used to the North American shooters.
He’s put up pretty solid numbers this year for UMass with a .917 sv%.
He wasn’t exactly great at last year’s tournament by any stretch.
But he was lights out in the 2023 U18’s.
So as long as he’s not facing older shooters, he seems to do better.
Which should be big for him in this year’s tournament.
So I wouldn’t think goals will be super easy to come by against the Pesky Czechs.
But I guess we’ll have to wait until the medal games for that.
