The 2026 iihf world junior championship kicks off today in minnesota, featuring top under-20 talent from 10 nations. Defending champions united states face germany in the opener at grand casino arena. Canada aims to end its medal drought in group b alongside finland and czechia.
The tournament, running from december 26 to january 5 in minneapolis-st. paul, showcases nhl prospects and draft eligibles like canada's gavin mckenna, a consensus top pick for the 2026 nhl draft. Mckenna, playing ncaa hockey at penn state, has four goals and 14 assists in 16 games this season. Other standouts include sweden's ivar stenberg, who leads shl scoring with six goals and 18 assists in 25 games for frolunda.
Group a, hosted at grand casino arena, includes the united states, sweden, slovakia, switzerland and germany. The u.s. roster features eight returners from last year's gold medal team, led by captain brodie ziemer of the university of minnesota. They open against germany at 6 p.m. et, broadcast on nhl network.
Group b games at 3m arena at mariucci pit canada against czechia at 8:30 p.m. et. Czechia's roster highlights include adam novotný of the peterborough petes, with 19 goals and 16 assists in 29 ohl games. Finland and latvia complete the group.
Nhl teams are well-represented, with the anaheim ducks sending five prospects: lucas pettersson and eric nilson (sweden), lasse boelius (finland), darels uljanskis (latvia) and elijah neuenschwander (switzerland). The philadelphia flyers have six, including porter martone captaining canada.
Predictions favor canada for gold, with the u.s. seeking a three-peat. Czechia eyes bronze after last year's third place. The event draws global attention, with 34 ncaa di players participating across 15 schools.
