This year’s edition of the World Junior Hockey Championship was different than years past, but just as enjoyable overall. Pessimists will be quick to judge the attendance at both venues as less than what is expected, but credit has to be given to the organizing committee for putting on a first-class event. Both venues, the 3M Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus and the Grand Casino Arena (home to the Minnesota Wild) provided excellent fan experiences and great hospitality.
Some of my closing thoughts from the 2026 world juniors:
• Team Canada won bronze over Finland and showed some character with their effort in that game. They skated away with a 6-3 victory and, in fact, only lost one game the entire tournament. Unfortunately for the Canadians, that game was in the semifinals versus Team Czechia.
• Canada’s power play led the tournament with a 50 per cent success rate. Their penalty-kill finished second (86 per cent).
• Canada scored 42 goals in the tournament. I can’t recall a team that averaged six goals per game not walking away with the gold medal.
• Interesting to note that Team Latvia held Canada to two goals in their preliminary round overtime loss.
• This year’s event provided a unique opportunity to view some of the top draft-eligible prospects in high-leverage scenarios. Ivar Stenberg (Sweden), Gavin McKenna (Canada), Keaton Verhoeff (Canada), Chase Reid (USA) and Viggo Bjorck (Sweden) provided NHL scouts with plenty to take away ahead of their annual mid-season amateur meetings.
• McKenna was the pre-season consensus top prospect for the 2026 Draft. He still might be slotted at the top of the table for some NHL clubs, but there’s certainly a healthy competition in the works for No. 1 overall. McKenna ended the tournament on a high note when he was awarded the game MVP in Canada’s bronze medal win. He contributed one goal and three assists versus the Finns and finished the tournament second in scoring with four goals and 10 assists overall.
• Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage had an outstanding tournament for Team Canada. Hage ended up winning the scoring title with two goals and 13 assists over seven games played. He drove play at even strength and on the man advantage. He impressed me with his speed, skill and overall competitiveness. The second-line forward that the Canadiens have been searching for is knocking on the door of the NHL sooner than expected.
• Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg has a lot of the same qualities as Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. They are relatively similar in stature and, like Suzuki, Stenberg leads by example and isn’t shy about taking the reins when the game is on the line.
• Stenberg finished the tournament with four goals and six assists. He was always on the right side of the play and elevated his shift-to-shift impact offensively when the games got especially difficult in the medal round. It speaks to his hockey sense and calculating approach overall. Stenberg projects as a top-line NHL forward who can be used in a variety of roles and never shies away when games get greasy and physical. He’s a hard out every time his number is called.
• Team USA defenceman Chase Reid (Soo Greyhounds) is a name to keep a close eye on in the second half of the season. He was deployed in all situations for the Americans, including quarterbacking their top power play unit when teammate Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) missed some time with an injury.
• Sweden’s Viggo Bjorck is a riser on my draft list. In the semifinal game versus Team Finland, he took 33 shifts and totalled 28:24 of ice time. The draft eligible forward can play centre or the wing and projects as a top-six NHL forward. He’s quick out of the blocks and a threat in transition.
• Bjorck is only listed at five-foot-10, 177 pounds so he will need to add more strength as he matures, but like Stenberg, he doesn’t shy away from any area of the ice and competes exceptionally hard every shift. Bjorck ended with three goals and six assists and was deployed in all situations, including taking key face-offs, throughout the tournament.
• A top underage forward at this tournament and a name to keep an eye on for the 2027 draft:
• Undrafted Swedish defenceman Felix Carell stood out for me. He could be a late bloomer. Carell has gone through the draft twice but he played heavy minutes at even strength and the penalty-kill for the Swedes and presents as a potential two-way/shutdown defenceman as he matures. The left-shot is listed at six-foot-one, 187 pounds. He’s a top-tier skater who moves pucks appropriately and engages his check with an active stick and proper body positioning defensively. Carell was a glue guy for Sweden on defence.
• Goaltender Michal Orsulak returns to the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders following a terrific effort between the pipes for the silver medal-winning Czechs. The six-foot-four, 225-pound, right-catching netminder went through the draft last June. If he carries the momentum over from this tournament, his name will definitely be called in 2026. Orsulak’s 3.19 goals-against average and .874 save percentage don’t stand out as elite, but he battled and gave his group a chance to win gold.
• Team Sweden received timely saves from their starting goalie Love Harenstam. The St. Louis Blues prospect plays to his own style. He’s somewhat hectic at times in his crease but he uses his size (six-foot-two, 196 pounds) to his advantage and never gives up on a puck. Harenstam makes some unorthodox-looking stops but the bottom line is he kept it out of the net better than most and was named a tournament all-star. He finished the tournament with a 2.52 goals-against average and .907 save percentage.
• Last words on Team Czechia… they walked away with the silver medal and emptied the tank as a group every game of the tournament. Their combination of speed, skill and relentless compete was fun to watch.
• Czechia forward Vojtech Cihar (LA Kings) was a deserving recipient of the tournament's most valuable player award. He was deployed in all situations and produced four goals and seven assists without sacrificing defensive detail. Given the amount of ice time Cihar logged overall, his plus-seven rating defensively is just as impressive as his offensive numbers.
Thoughts from Sam Cosentino...
• Not to be a Canadian apologist, but no other team had players in the NHL that were eligible to play in this tournament. Aside from Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer, Canada also had Sam Dickinson, Ben Kindel, Berkly Catton and Beckett Sennecke eligible to play, but all have been good enough to stay with their NHL teams.
• Despite some controversy surrounding official IIHF scoring, Hockey Canada will credit Zayne Parekh with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) and a new single-tournament defenceman record for the country.
• Canadian coach Dale Hunter leaned on Tampa Bay prospect and current London Knight Sam O’Reilly more and more as the tournament progressed. He played 5:54 in the third period of the semifinal, and a total of 17:10. In the bronze medal win, O’Reilly scored twice and played a team and tournament high 23:05.
• Sweden hadn't won the WJC since 2012 when Mika Zibanejad scored the game-winning goal in overtime to beat Russia 1-0. Interestingly, then-Russian head coach Valeri Bragin moved off Andrei Vasilevskiy with less than six minutes left in a 6-5 win over Canada and then started Andrei Makarov in the final. Makarov made 57 saves in the loss.
• For the fourth straight year, Czechia ends up with a medal. It lost the gold medal game to Canada in 2023 to finish with a silver, then won bronze the next two years and a silver again this year. While medals are nice, the gold drought continues for Czechia, who has not won this event since 2001.
• Canada last won bronze in 2012 defeating Finland 4-0. Mark Visentin collected the 27-save shutout, while Tanner Pearson’s goal 9:08 into the first period proved to be the game-winner.
• In some private conversations with a few players, there was still plenty of disappointment despite winning bronze. But it was important to finish on the podium and avoid Canada's second-ever three-year run without a WJC medal. Team Canada failed to medal from 1979-1981.
• Injured on a reverse hit by Czechia defenceman Matyas Man in the first period of the semifinal, Brady Martin did not play the rest of the game and didn’t dress for the bronze medal game. He is expected to miss at least a few weeks, but it does not look season-ending.
• The bronze medal game featured a battle of LA Kings prospects in goal. Carter George was taken with the 57th pick of the 2024 draft, while Finland’s Petteri Rimpinen was selected 152nd overall in the fifth round of the 2025 draft. Rimpinen played every minute in goal in each of the past two world juniors for the Finns.
• The Utah Mammoth have to be happy with what they saw at the world juniors. The Canadian trio of Tij Iginla, Cole Beaudoin and Caleb Desnoyers combined for 21 points, while the Czech duo of Max Psenicka and Stepan Hoch put up four points while Switzerland’s Ludvig Johnson had two points. Finland’s Veeti Vaisanen didn’t record a point but had 25 PIMs.
• The set-up in Minnesota, especially at Grand Casino Arena, was perfect to host this event. The fan fest was connected to the arena through an indoor walkway and featured the typical Hockey Hall of Fame set-up as well as games for kids to play and a nice local touch with several artisans hawking their goods.
• As for attendance, I was happy with the number for the gold medal game despite no North American participant. The three lower levels were well populated, but there was nobody sitting in the upper ring.
When the tournament is hosted near a Canadian border the expectation is that Canadians will purchase tickets and travel to the host site. Political tensions have seen a drop in Canadians traveling to the US and with the exchange rate hovering around $1.35 Canadian for every US dollar, travel becomes increasingly more expensive.
There has been some talk about giving non-traditional markets an opportunity to host. Either Tampa Bay or Sunrise, Florida would be good potential destinations. Both of those markets have a number of Eastern Canadian snowbirds in place and for families thinking of taking a vacation, it would be the right time of year to do so. Having said that, if we’re still in the same political and economic climate, it may be a tough ask for a large number of Canadians.
• Finally, the hockey world lost a giant with the passing of former OHL commissioner David Branch. He loved the world juniors and was so proud of all the players from the CHL who participated. He played a big role in creating Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence.
Professionally, he was instrumental in ushering the CHL through a ton of growth and a number of recent challenges.
From a personal standpoint, having covered the CHL for 17 years nationally and several more locally, I’m shocked and saddened. Under his leadership, I and all of our Sportsnet crews were treated first-class at every level, at every event. Your presence, leadership and kindness will be missed.