Is Canada able to triumph at the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden?

IIHF
Canada vs USA 2023 IIHF World Juniors. Mandatory Credit: Minas Panagiotakis-Getty Images

10 countries will meet at the 2024 IIHF World Juniors which starts on December 26 in Sweden. The final is on January 5, a stage Canada will be looking to get to for the fifth tournament in a row. The betting sites will have some odds available for the games when the time comes and given that we are still a week away from the opening game, it is only the tournament winner at present. Let’s take a look at the 10 teams and the tournament as a whole.

How it works

The 10 teams are split into two groups of five. They play once against the other four teams in their group with the top four in each advancing to the quarter-final stage where they will be re-ranked as they head into the knockout stages which are all one game, winner-takes-all in design.

The bottom team in each group enters a relegation playoff. The loser of that game will be demoted to the next level down and their place in the next World Juniors tournament in Ottawa will be taken by Kazakhstan who won the recent Division I Group A tournament which was held in Bucharest.

World Juniors Past

It is no surprise to anyone across the ice hockey world that Canada has been the most successful team in World Juniors history. In the 47 past tournaments, Canada is the winner of 20 of them, including the 2022 and 2023 editions which were both held at ‘home’.

They would lose just a single game at the 2023 tournament, beating Czechia in the final. The USA and Sweden were the other teams to make the semi-final stage with the USA taking the bronze medal. 

Austria lost the relegation game to Latvia which saw their place taken by Norway ahead of the 2024 tournament. They lost all six games that they played in the 2023 tournament, with Latvia being one of the favourites to end up in the relegation playoff again in 2024.

Canada has made it to the final in four straight tournaments, the last three all being held in Canada. They won three of them, their sole loss coming against the USA in 2021.

Canadian Team

A team packed with some solid talent, the roster is destined to become household names as they hit the NHL over the next couple of years. A lot of first-round draft picks are in this team including Conor Geekie whose brother Morgan is part of the current Bruins team having played for the Seattle Kraken for the last couple of seasons.

Nate Danielson who was drafted 9th overall this year by the Detroit Red Wings, Braden Yager (14th by the Pittsburgh Penguins) Matthew Wood (15th, Nashville Predators) Oliver Bonk (22nd Philadelphia Flyer) Tanner Molendyk (24th, Predators) and Easton Cowen (28th, Toronto Maple Leafs) are other first-round picks from 2023 who will be lacing up their skates as part of Team Canada at the 2024 World Juniors. 

Add to those Macklin Celebrini who is widely touted as the player who will be picked #1 overall in the 2024 NHL draft and it is easy to get excited about the prospects of this young team going all the way again.

Group A

Aside from Canada, the other four teams that will be competing with them in Group A contain some smart teams.

Sweden

The host country will like their chances of going deep into the tournament. They were a semi-finalist in 2023, losing the third-fourth playoff game to the USA in an insane 8-7 overtime contest. No team has quite been the nearly men that Sweden has been down the years, winning this tournament twice but beaten finalists on 11 occasions. 

15 times in the last 17 World Juniors they have made it to the semi-final stage so that will be the least that is expected of this team. They were a beaten finalist the last time that the tournament was held in Sweden in 2014, with Finland beating them 3-2 in overtime. 

They have a team full of Vancouver Canucks prospects including Elias Pettersson, Tom Willander and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. A bold showing will give Canucks fans plenty to look forward to on top of a franchise that is building themselves back up nicely. 

Finland

Winner of this three times in the last 10 tournaments played, the gold medal hung around their necks in 2014, 2016 and 2019. Tomi Lämsä only took over as the Head Coach earlier this year so he has not had much time to get to know the players yet.

They will have been disappointed to be a beaten quarter-finalist last year after making the semis for the four years prior, making the final twice in that stretch, including the aforementioned gold medal-winning team at the 2019 World Juniors.

Germany

A quarter-finalist the last three years, they have yet to make it any further than that stage. Germany has always been a solid performer in Europe when it comes to hockey but there will be hopes with the success of Leon Draisaitl with the Edmonton Oilers that they might be able to push on a little more to take the team to the next level with the next generation inspired to take up the sport. 

Whether they are capable of doing that in 2024 is doubtful. They only managed to beat Austria in the tournament last year who finished bottom of the 10 teams. They were far from disgraced when only falling 1-0 to Sweden but were brought back to earth with a bump by an 11-2 thrashing at the hands of Canada and an 8-1 defeat to Czechia. 

Latvia

Unfortunately for Latvia, they look like they will be in a fight with Germany for who finishes bottom of the group. They failed to win a group game last year but were able to beat Austria twice in the relegation round to maintain their status at this level.

They were not disgraced at any stage last year, losses came 5-2 against the USA, 3-2 against Switzerland and 3-0 against Slovakia. In the game with the USA, they were tied 2-2 going into the third period while the defeat against Switzerland came in a shootout so they were in games until late.

Group B

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.

Predictions

LeoVegas Free Bet

It looks like another excellent tournament in prospect. It is always one of the most exciting times for hockey fans as we watch the generation who will be finding their way into the NHL over the next year or two, especially so for those who are draft picks of our teams.

Canada does not have a Connor Bedard this year which is going to make things more difficult, especially as in 2023 they had to go into overtime to Slovakia in their quarter-final and Czechia in the gold medal game. That was in front of a home crowd who will have lifted the team so having to do it on the road this year is going to make the task much harder.

Sweden is the home team so they will fancy their chances of having an excellent tournament and naturally Czechia will be right there after their appearance in the final last year. The USA feel that they have a strong team and are capable of contending so there is certainly no lack of teams who have their eyes on lifting the trophy.

Looking for a third straight win, Canada is the right tournament favourite but their team is not quite as strong as last year and with a target on their back, they are going to have to be right on their game from the very first drop of the puck. For those looking for a huge price, Slovakia had moments last year that suggested they are not a million miles off the best and they could surprise a few in the 2024 World Juniors.

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