Most of these teams will be pleased to see that they are in the other group away from Canada but it should not be assumed that this is naturally the ‘easy’ group as with only the 10 teams in total, there are very few weak sides in here.
USA
Didn’t manage a World Juniors win until 2004 but they now have five, most recently in 2021 when they downed Canada 2-0 in the final. That 2021 team contained Cole Caulfield, Trevor Zegras and Matthew Beniers amongst others. Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler are both part of the Montreal Canadiens organisation with the Winnipeg Jets having Rutger McGroarty on the US roster.
They kick off with a game against Norway on December 26 which is a perfect opportunity to get themselves into the tournament nice and easily as that looks by far the softest game of the group and a good chance to get some goals on the board.
The only defeat that the US suffered in the 2023 tournament was their semi-final loss to Canada which is going to give them plenty of desire to try and get revenge if they get the opportunity at the 2023 World Juniors.
Czechia
Will kick off the tournament with the opening game against Slovakia. They made it to the final in 2023, fighting back from 2-0 down to force the game into overtime before falling to Canada. That was the first time that they have won a medal since 2005 so they will be keen to back up that success with another strong tournament.
Twice the winners of this tournament in 2000 and 2001, they were fourth in 2022 ahead of their appearance in the gold medal game last year. Their opening game in 2023 was against Team Canada, running out 5-2 winners before falling to the same team in the final.
That suggests that this team is bordering on being potential winners once more so a lot of eyes are going to be on their clash with the USA on December 29 to see who is the strongest team coming out of this group.
Slovakia
Three times they have made the semis, winning the bronze medal in both 1999 and 2015. They made it to the quarter-final stage last year, giving Canada a real scare, taking them to overtime before falling 4-3 to a Connor Bedard winner.
Filip Mešár is part of the Montreal Canadiens organisation and enjoyed an excellent time last season with the Kitchener Rangers. He is back with that team after an aborted stint with Laval Rocket in the AHL and this is a great opportunity to put himself back in the shop window again and show what he is capable of.
Switzerland
Four times they have made it to the semi-finals of this tournament, winning the bronze in 1998 but beaten in 2002, 2010 and 2019. They did not win a game in regulation at the 2023 World Juniors with one win in overtime and two in a shootout. They beat some solid teams in those wins including Finland and Slovakia before they absolutely fell apart in their quarter-final game with Czechia, ending up on the wrong end of a 9-1 beating.
They have the chance to gain revenge for that this time around, drawn in the same group. That will be in the final group game on December 31 with positioning so important for the quarter-final stage that will come up straight after.
Norway
The newly promoted side has plenty on their plate. This is the fourth time that they have been promoted to this level and on each of the other three occasions, they have been relegated immediately so this team would certainly love to put an end to that record and stay up.
2014 was the last time that they played at this level, losing all four of their games, including 10-0 and 11-0 defeats. Looking at the teams in with them this time around, there could be some more heavy beatings on the way so they will be looking to just try and clog up the neutral zone and stop any creativity against them rather than going out and looking to win games.