Team USA Looks For Back-To-Back Golds At 2025 World Junior Championship

After four gold-medal wins in the last 12 years, the United States will be looking to win consecutive gold medals for the first time in tournament history at the IIHF’s 2025 World Junior Championship.

The 10-team event will run from Dec. 26 – Jan. 5 in Ottawa, Canada. Last time it played host, in 2009, Canada capped off a streak of five-straight golds after Jordan Eberle famously kept the drive alive with a game-tying goal against Russia with less than five seconds remaining in the semi-final.

The hosts, who lead all nations with 20 golds in the tournament’s 48-year history, will be looking to get back onto the podium after a disappointing fifth-place finish last year in Sweden.

Russia, including the Soviet Union and the CIS, ranks second with 13 golds but is not participating in 2025 for the fourth-straight event. It is currently banned from all IIHF competition, along with Belarus, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Now with six golds, the Americans have moved into third place on the all-time rankings. And with 10 players returning from the 2024 roster, they’ll be a tough out.

This year’s tournament format remains the same as it has been for more than a decade. Ten teams will compete in two round-robin groups through New Year’s Eve. The top four squads from each group will then advance to the one-game crossover knockout round, which takes place on Jan. 2. Then, the semifinals take place on Jan. 4 and the medal games on Jan. 5.

Games will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and on NHL Network in the U.S., with start times staggered each day.

It all kicks off with Sweden facing Slovakia at noon ET on Tuesday, December 26, with three other games to follow. A highlight should be Canada vs. USA on New Year’s Eve (8 p.m. ET), which will close out the preliminary round and could very well determine the first-place finisher in Group A.

Here’s a look at the two round-robin groups.

Group A

Group A will play its round-robin games at the Canadian Tire Centre, home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.

The defending champions from Team USA come in as the top seed, icing an experienced lineup that features 22 players who have been drafted by NHL teams. That list includes captain Ryan Leonard, a returnee who was selected eighth overall by the Washington Capitals in 2023, along with fellow returnee and 2024 12th-overall pick Zeev Buium on the blue line.

In net, 2023 second-rounder Trey Augustine returns for his third World Juniors. David Carle also returns as coach, after winning his second national championship in the past three years at the University of Denver in 2024.

The U.S. roster also includes forward James Hagens, who’s in the running to be selected No. 1 at the 2025 NHL draft. But the Americans are missing 19-year-old forward Will Smith. Drafted fourth overall in 2023, Smith has taken a full-time role with the San Jose Sharks this season.

Finland comes into the tournament as the fourth seed, having lost to Czechia in the 2024 bronze-medal game. Returnees include forwards Konsta Helenius and Emil Henning, both first-round selections in the 2024 draft.

Just four Canadians are returning from their 2024 roster: captain Brayden Yager, fellow forwards Easton Cowan and Carson Rehkopf and defenseman Oliver Bonk. Another defender, Tanner Molendyk, was named to the 2024 roster but missed the tournament due to an injury.

After last year’s disappointment, the Canadians will have something to prove in front of their home fans, who were difference-makers for the gold-medal wins in Halifax and Moncton in 2023. The Canadians look deep in goal, where 18-year-old Carter George has already won gold at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and the World U18 Championship. George looks like he’ll get the nod to start Canada’s first game against Finland on Boxing Day, supported by Carson Bjarnason and draft-eligible Jack Ivankovic.

Canada’s 2024 lineup looks deep, and includes another prodigy in potential 2026 first-overall pick Gavin McKenna as well as a pair of tantalizing 2025 draft-eligible talents in defenseman Matthew Schaefer and forward Porter Martone. While technically still eligible for the tournament, teenagers Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini and Zach Benson have all remained with their NHL teams.

The other two squads in Group A are Latvia (No. 8) and Germany (No. 9).

Group B

Group B will play its round-robin games at TD Place, home of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge.

This group is headlined by Sweden, seeded No. 2 after reaching the gold-medal game on home soil last season — their best result since 2018. While the Swedes are consistently strong during the round-robin, they’ve had a tough time in the medal rounds, and have won just two golds in World Juniors history.

After knocking out Finland to take the bronze medal in 2024, the Czechs come into Ottawa with a little less firepower than the last few years. Six-foot-six goaltender Michael Hrabal has the tools to be a difference-maker after only a so-so performance in his 2024 tournament debut as an 18-year-old.

Group B is rounded out by No. 6 Slovakia, No. 7 Switzerland and No. 11 Khazakhstan, which won promotion from Div. 1A in 2024.