2024 Guide to the World Junior Championship

With December well underway, it’s time to look ahead to the next big event on the hockey calendar, the 2024 World Junior Championship. Last year we got the first sense of normalcy for this tournament in quite some time, with plenty of fans in attendance and a raucous atmosphere in both Halifax and Moncton.

2024 World Junior Championship Guide the the 2024 WJC (The Hockey Writers)

The tournament has become a holiday tradition for many hockey fans around the world, beginning on Boxing Day (December 26) each year and ending during the first week of the new year. The WJC has grown remarkably since the inaugural (official) tournament was held in 1977 and has a massive amount of international support.

This year the tournament has found a new home in Gothenburg, Sweden after being hosted in Canada four straight times (three in Edmonton including the cancelled one, and one on the East Coast), and has returned to the usual holiday season schedule. Here’s to hoping we get another wildly exciting tournament this year!

NOTE: Final Roster and Players to Watch articles will be linked below as they are published

Group A:
Team Canada	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Sweden	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Finland	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Germany	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Latvia	Final Roster	Players to Watch

Group B:
Team USA	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Czechia	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Slovakia	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Switzerland	Final Roster	Players to Watch
Team Norway	Final Roster	Players to Watch

Features

Columns

2024 NHL Draft Rankings

Horn’s Top 32 for October

Barrachini’s Top 32 Preseason Ranking s

Prospect Features

Who Is Eligible to Play?

This is the U20 version of the tournament meaning that players must be under the age of 20 to participate. If a player’s 20^th birthday takes place in the year the tournament ends (Jan. 1-Dec 31, 2024), then they are eligible, even if they turn 20 while the tournament is still underway. If a player’s 20^th birthday takes place in the year the tournament begins (Jan.1-Dec 26, 2023), then they are not eligible. People usually talk about the upper limit for the age eligibility but there is also a lower limit, as players must turn 15 years old in the year that the tournament ends. Sorry to all those players turning 14 next year out there who are hoping to participate but just realized they’re not eligible, better luck next year.

Gothenburg, Sweden to Play Host

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden, with a population of over 1 million in the metropolitan area. It is the home to Frölunda HC, a storied hockey organization that is currently competing in the SHL, Sweden’s top professional league. Prospect David Edstrom and Otto Stenberg play for Frölunda in the SHL, and both have been selected to represent Sweden at this tournament, meaning they’ll be playing for their home country in their home arena.

Otto Stenberg Team Sweden — Otto Stenberg, Team Sweden (Photo by Jari Pestelacci/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Frölunda’s main arena is called the Scandinavium, which has hosted a wide variety of competitions, concerts, and sporting events, including the 1985 EuroVision competition. Group A will play all of their group stage games as well as their quarterfinals matches in the Scandinavium, while Group B will spend those same games in Frölunda’s secondary arena, known as the Frölundaborg. The relegation games, semi-finals, and medal games will all be played in the Scandinavium.

Participating Nations

As I mentioned earlier, Group A consists of Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Latvia while Group B is made up of United States, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, and Norway.

Canada will look to become the first nation to win three consecutive tournaments since they won five straight from 2005-09. They just barely snuck out an overtime victory in last year’s tourney against Czechia thanks to a goal from Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Guenther. However, Canada will be in tough to repeat this year since they will have to do without the talent of high end prospects like Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Kevin Korchinski as they all look to be full time NHLers already.

Team USA will also feature many highly regarded prospects after winning Bronze last year, including Philadelphia Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier and Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson. Finland and Sweden both went without medals last year and look poised to make a run for Gold, with Sweden bringing a roster filled to the brim with talent including Vancouver Canucks prospects Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Elias Pettersson, and Tom Willander.

Award Winners from the 2023 WJC

Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard was named the best forward of the tournament after scoring an astounding nine goals and 23 points in just seven games. He etched his name in the record books among Canadians to ever play at the tournament and was a key piece in Canada’s dominant run to the Gold medal.

Connor Bedard Team Canada — Connor Bedard, Team Canada (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

David Jiricek was named the best defenseman of the tournament after scoring seven points in seven games and constantly locking down opposing forwards. He led Czechia to a Silver medal performance and was one of the very best players on the ice at any given moment.

Adam Gajan was named the top goaltender in the tournament after a breakout performance for Slovakia that put them within a goal of knocking out Canada in the quarterfinals. Gajan’s .936 save percentage was the highest in the tournament and he was dominant from the moment he took over as Slovakia’s starter despite being brought to Halifax as the third-string goalie.

The Media All-Star team voted on at the tournament’s conclusion saw Connor Bedard, USA’s Logan Cooley, and Czechia’s Jiri Kulich named the three top forwards, Jiricek and Sweden’s Ludvig Jansson named the top two defenders, and Tomás Suchánek named the top goaltender.