It’s the holiday season! And if there’s one thing that brings together everybody even more than hot beverages, tasty snacks and presents, it’s the annual World Junior Hockey Championship!
Taking place this year in a bubble format in Edmonton, the tournament seeks to crown the best under-20 national team on the planet. Let’s take a look at how everything shakes out!

The teams

10 countries are vying for gold in The Bubble.
POOL A
Country
2020
Finish
Best
Finish
NHL
Picks
First
Rounders
Canada
Gold
Gold (x18)
24
20
Finland
4th
Gold (x5)
17
2
Switzerland
5th
Bronze (1998)
0
0
Slovakia
8th
Bronze (x2)
2
0
Germany
9th
5th (1981)
2
1
On paper, Canada’s the easy favourite in Pool A. They’re the host team and boast a deep, deep pool of high end talent. Goalie Taylor Gauthier is the only undrafted player, and everyone except for Canada’s goalies and two blueliners were first round picks in 2019 or 2020. (Captain Kirby Dach suffered an injury on Wednesday against Russia and will miss the tournament, but the team remains incredibly stacked.)
Finland seems to be the best of the rest, with first rounders Ville Heinola and Anton Lundell and a roster chock full of NHL-drafted talent. They may not have the overall depth that Canada has, but they’re going to be a tough out.
Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany fill out this group, and have a combined four NHL draftees and one first – that’s Germany’s Tim Stuetzle, by the way. Between Stuetzle and J.J. Peterka, Germany may quietly be the third-best team in this group.
POOL B
Country
2020
Finish
Best
Finish
NHL
Picks
First
Rounders
Russia
Silver
Gold (x13)
18
5
Sweden
Bronze
Gold (x2)
18
6
United States
6th
Gold (x4)
23
9
Czech Republic
7th
Gold (x2)
9
0
Austria
Won Division 1A
8th (1981)
1
1
Pool B is the chaos group.
Russia, Sweden and the USA could all possibly win this group. Russia has a really deep team boasts the likes of Yaroslav Askarov in net and Vasili Podkolzin up front. Sweden has the typical deep team, even though they’re missing a few strong pieces due to COVID-19 issues. And the USA doesn’t have Nick Robertson, but they boast a roster almost as jam-packed with NHL-drafted talent as Canada’s.
(If I had to rank ’em, I’d go: Sweden, Russia, and then USA. But it’s tight.)
The Czechs are a bit of an also-ran here, and Austria is probably just excited that there’s no relegation due to this year’s format.

Flames representation

Four Calgary Flames prospects are playing at the event:
  • Jakob Pelletier (Canada): a 2019 first rounder, Pelletier likely plays on Canada’s shutdown line alongside Alex Newhook and Dylan Holloway.
  • Connor Zary (Canada): a 2020 first rounder, Zary has slotted in on Canada’s fourth line with Quinton Byfield and Ryan Suzuki.
  • Yan Kuznetsov (Russia): a 2020 second rounder, Kuznetsov was practising on a paring with potential 2021 first rounder Daniil Chayka.
  • Dustin Wolf (United States): a 2019 seventh rounder, Wolf is expected to back up Spencer Knight as he did in last year’s World Juniors. (He might only play once, and most likely it would be on Boxing Day against Austria.)

The schedule

Round robin!
Date
Noon MT
4 p.m. MT
7:30 p.m. MT
Fri., Dec. 25
SWI v. SLO (TSN3/5)
GER v. FIN (TSN3/5)
RUS v. USA (TSN1)
Sat., Dec. 26
SWE v. CZE (TSN1/4/5)
CAN v. GER (TSN1/4/5)
USA v. AUT (TSN1/4/5)
Sun., Dec. 27
FIN v. SWI (TSN1/4/5)
CAN v. SLO (TSN1/4/5)
RUS v. CZE (TSN1/4/5)
Mon., Dec. 28
n/a
SWE v. AUT (TSN1)
SLO v. GER (TSN1)
Tue., Dec. 29
USA v. CZE (TSN1)
CAN v. SWI (TSN1)
RUS v. AUT (TSN1)
Wed., Dec. 30
FIN v. SLO (TSN1)
GER v. SWI (TSN1)
RUS v. SWE (TSN1)
Thu., Dec. 31
CZE v. AUT (TSN1)
CAN v. FIN (TSN1)
USA v. SWE (TSN1)
Medal round!
The quarterfinals run Jan. 2, all day. The seeding goes like this:
  • 1st in Pool A vs. 4th in Pool B
  • 2nd in Pool A vs. 3rd in Pool B
  • 3rd in Pool A vs. 2nd in Pool B
  • 4th in Pool A vs. 1st in Pool B
The semi-finals on Jan. 4 pit the best remaining team against the worst, and the other two against each other.
The medal games are on Jan. 5, with bronze and gold medals contested for in a pair of games.