What is the story about?
Just the Facts
- What is it?: Teenager hockey at the highest level being played in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!
- When is it?: The games start December 26th, and the medal round begins just after New Year’s Day on the 2nd.
- Where can I watch it?: TSN in Canada, NHLN in the states, apparently TUBI will also have it if you stream your hockey.
- Who’s the defending champs?: The United States, who is going for a threepeat this year!
- Why should I care?: Why, you get to see the NHL stars of tomorrow face off for World Juniors glory! Gavin McKenna gets to wow you before he even gets the chance to play for an NHL team! Also it’s pretty inoffensive hockey that people get super wound up over while you’re puttering around the house during the holidays, so there aught to be some good yucks at certain fanbases (read: Canada’s) expense. Also, the relegation round is always a fun treat for those who want to see imperfect, desperate hockey, a personal favorite of mine.
Bruins Prospects at the World Juniors
- Team USA: James Hagens, Will Zellers
- Team Czechia: Vashek Blanar
Group Previews
Group A – Freedom Fries
- By this point, if you read enough of these, you know Team USA’s deal; hero hockey. Fart around for 40 minutes, win in the last 20. Given the talent they control at this point, they could probably get it up to 55 minutes and still win with those last 5 minutes. Their roster being headlined by James Hagens, Will Zellers, Cole Eiserman, one of the spare Hutsons we have kicking around, and a stout defense that ticks all the boxes. Defensive specialists? Blake Fiddler and EJ Emery are right there. Dynamic offense types? Chase Reid and Cole Hutson. If there’s any real concern, it’s that they do not have Trey Augustine in net anymore as he’s aged out of the World Juniors picture. Of the three the States brought to the tournament, AJ Reyelts has played the most and has the best record, but Caleb Heil has slightly better performance on the USHL, and Nicholas Kempf has played against better competition (or at least older competition) in the NCAA. That question should probably be figured out by the time the games start, but it will be a concern lingering. Of course, if they gotta boat race, Team USA has made it clear they are more than willing to pull that kind of game together. The Group and the Tournament are for the Americans to lose until proven otherwise.
- One must imagine Sweden happy, because once again they should be set up to be a powerhouse…and it might shock you to learn that nobody is concerned because they have to get past the US and then will have to beat Canada or Finland in order to get the Gold Medal they so desperately crave. There’s just no winning for them unless they win it all, and that will be tough. In the round robin they usually do pretty well, and their roster this year is once again damn good; Sascha Boumedienne, Loke Krantz, Ivar Stenburg, Anton Frondell, with decent netminders in Goos and Härenstam suggests they will be just as good as they usually are. Problem is, we know that. We know they will likely cruise to another Group top or close to it. Then they have to play in the elimination round. Tre Kronor’s biggest issue remains that elimination round play, and who knows if this version of Sweden can survive it. I’m pretty sure they can…they just have to, you know…do it.
- Slovakia remains interested in proving they are A) Not Mad about Juraj Slafkovsky’s comments that suggest the federation is indolent, and B) You can ignore their considerable interest in buddying up to the Russian Federation because they’re A-Okay, baby. Slovakia unfortunately does have some issues facing them coming into the tourney: their 2023 class has aged out entirely, and a vast majority of their team is so, so young. In some cases that may benefit them, as there’s less tape on these kids and the ones who they do have tape on are pretty good. For most however…well, they don’t have the same caliber of player they used to in a division where Sweden and the US are, and they usually had a good chance to beat the US up ‘till now. They’re going to have to hope Michal Pradel can hold the fort long enough for guys like Michal Capos, Jan Chovan, and Michal Svrcek can get these youngsters moving like they can. I don’t think they’re necessarily worse than the rest of their division, but I certainly wouldn’t put them any higher than 3rd unless Pradel starts doing 3rd eye goaltending.
- Here’s the thing: by all accounts, Germany should be in trouble. Their defense is kind of awkward and not especially noteworthy, and they’re banking on a WHL goalie to be their rock in net. That is a rock I think they could trust in spurts here or there, but maybe not all the way. Why I think they escape relegation this year is that Die Eismannschaft is more offensively gifted than Switzerland; especially up front. Max Penkin, Max Schafer, and David Lewandowski have all found great success this year in Canadian Junior/DEL play, and zee Germans might have something in brothers Timo and Fabio Kose, who play different positions but have shown great flashes of talent against grown-ass men in the DEL. Against players their own age? They may yet shine. Veillard, while I don’t necessarily trust an .890 SV% goalie, is a vet for this squad, and I imagine they will rally around him.
- It breaks my heart to suggest Switzerland may end up on the relegation block this year, I have loved their fundamentals only, no funny business kind of hockey for years, but ultimately the level of talent at the WJC is improving, and so far the Swiss have failed to meet the moment. It stinks especially because they do have interesting talent! They have
Group B – Goo Goo Baby division for Canada
- After Canada publicly embarrassed themselves last year and the year before, The True North appear to have taken a much more humble approach to the World Juniors of casually bringing everyone who is good and available to the World Juniors. Even better, the omissions this year were largely because the Pacific teams that they were signed to still want them to be on the roster, and thus can’t justify assigning them. Even better than that, Group B is about as easy a division as you could ask for if Canada really is as built up as they say they are…which is what I would say, had Gavin McKenna not made it clear that he’s prone to error as much as anyone else, and Sweden doesn’t even have to play Canada until a hypothetical medal round. In general, a lot rides on Canada right now. They’ve been slipping badly over the past few tourneys and have turned “underdog gets first win over Canada” into an almost yearly spectacle. Regardless of how you feel about their place in the sport, Canada in the tourneys that count does not have the luxury of expecting to be good anymore. In short, they need to run away with this one and quickly, or we are once again going to start a dialogue about the decision-making corps for the Red and White (and sometimes black).
- Finland’s effort in the early parts of this tournament have always been a bit slow; especially with their proclivity for penalties, so don’t be surprised if they look like they’re in trouble to start out. What they are however, is in a very weird place. They’re without Konsta Helenius; their current premiere prospect of World Juniors age, and as such are going to need to adjust to life without him. They’re not screwed by a long shot, but now they need to focus down on other talents to help them out. In net, as per usual, they will have a murderer’s row of good goalies to choose from; Kim Saarinen and Petteri Rimpinen will once again be their rock in net, allowing talents like Julius Miettinen, Emil Hemming, Matias Vanhanen, and Max Westergard to do what they usually do best; cause a ruckus on the boards, rip off a solid pass, and score goals. Losing Helenius however means they lose a level of dynamism that would have otherwise given them an edge against the Group leader once we get to that point on the calendar. Still, the Finns always find a way to drag teams down to their level, so while Canada might get the edge on them to start, they always find a way to crawl back in and make you regret it. Also, Rimpinen has the coolest pads in this tournament. Bar none.
- Czechia has traditionally been an offense or bust kind of team; one that’s free-wheeling and fun if a little chaotic. That chaos allowed them to be Bronze Medalists at last year’s tourney. Is that gonna change? Maybe! Granted, they still have plenty of impressive and fun forwards they can call on to make their brand of frantic and fun hockey work, but now they’ll have an extra hand from the backend; they’ve decided to bring Radim Mrtka, Jakub Fibigr, Vashek Blanar, and Adam Jiricek to the dance, and from the skaters alone it seems like Czechia plans to survive this tourney through blistering offense.
- Latvia has the benefit of their upset win over Canada to allow them to survive through this tournament. That’s probably what’s going to get them through this tournament entirely because otherwise Latvia has lost a lot of the talent that made them so special last year. They will have to rely on the work of players who’ve spent a lot of time abroad: Roberts Naudins has been tearing it up for Shattuck St. Marys Prep, Daniels Serkins has been doing great for SC Bern in Switzerland, and of course; the Latvians have their wunderkind; Alberts Smits, who is projected to be a first round pick this year. They do have a team attitude and game plan that usually makes them a lot tougher to play than you might expect, but they also tend to need their goalies to be lights out. Of the three they brought; Nils Roberts Maurins would likely have to play way above his paygrade to keep them in games. Otherwise, their tournament will be as per usual; passionate fans, painful results.
- There are going to be players on Denmark with more middle names than goals this year. Have fun playing Switzerland in the knockout round!
What’s the Schedule like?
It
looks like this! The games begin on December 26th, and the Elimination round begins on January 2nd.
