2025 IIHF World Junior Championship: Highlights and Updates

The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship is underway in Ottawa, Canada, featuring the top ten under-20 hockey teams from around the world. The tournament, which began on December 26 and will conclude on January 5, promises to showcase the next generation of hockey stars as they compete for the coveted gold medal.

The tournament follows a similar format to previous seasons. The tournament is divided into two groups of five teams each in a preliminary round, also known as the group stage. After a single round-robin series in each group, the top four teams from each group advance to the playoff rounds. The fifth-place teams move to the relegation round, where the winner will play in the next IIHF World Junior Championship, and the loser will be relegated to the U20 World Championships Division I Group A.

On the second day of the tournament, Slovakia edged Switzerland 2-1 in a Group B game at TD Place. Jan Chovan scored the winning goal for Slovakia with 3:18 remaining in the third period. Switzerland’s Eric Schneller tied the game at 1-1 in the second period, but Slovakia’s Daniel Alexander Jencko redirected a shot by Luka Radivojevic to take the lead early in the first period.

Another notable game saw Latvia upset Canada 3-2 in a shootout. Latvia tied the game with Canada at two goals with just two and a half minutes remaining in regulation time. Linards Feldbergs made crucial saves in the final minutes and overtime to keep Latvia in the game. Canada was called for a too many men penalty with just 42 seconds remaining in overtime, giving Latvia the extra person on the ice but they were unable to convert. The teams went to a shootout, where Feldbergs was pitted against Jack Ivankovic between the posts for a sudden death battle.

Canada got preliminary play underway with a 4-0 win over Finland. Carter George posted a 31-save shutout, and Matthew Schaefer had a goal and an assist. Gavin McKenna, who turned 17 on December 20, scored the first goal at 19:08 of the first period and is the early favorite to be the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft.

The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will air on TSN and RDS on television in Canada. The tournament will also be streamed on TSN+ in Canada. In the United States, NHL Network will be the television home of the World Junior Championship. FloHockey is providing comprehensive editorial and video coverage of the tournament, including features on Team USA and Team Canada.

Team USA vs. Team Canada will be played on New Year’s Eve, December 31, at 7:00 p.m. ET at Canadian Tire Centre on NHL Network. Other upcoming games include Sweden vs. Switzerland (Noon ET), Slovakia vs. Czechia (5 p.m. ET), and Finland vs. Germany (3:30 p.m. ET).