2026 World Juniors daily: Dec. 26
The 2026 World Juniors are officially here!
Four games are on the schedule today from Minneapolis and St. Paul., MN highlighted by Canada’s opener against Czechia.
Dec. 26 schedule:
Sweden vs. Slovakia – 1pm ET / 10am PT
Denmark vs. Finland – 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT
Germany vs. USA – 6pm ET / 3pm PT
Czechia vs. Canada – 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT
The day ahead:
Will this year be Sweden’s year? It’s a question posed every Boxing Day as the hockey hotbed has stunningly only claimed gold twice (1981, 2012) in tournament history. Over the past 11 tournaments, the Swede’s have lost the bronze medal game on five occasions and finished as runners-up in 2024 on home ice. As for Slovakia, they’re been eliminated in the quarterfinals in each of the past three years and haven’t medalled since they claimed bronze in 2015.
It’s not secret that it could be a tough 10 days for Denmark. Promoted to the top division for 2026, they make their return to the World Juniors for the first time since 2019. Their objective will be simple this year – maintain their status for the 2027 tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer. For Finland, they came up one goal short of gold in 2025 after they fell in overtime to the USA in the championship game. Five-time gold medallists (1987, 1998, 2014, 2016, 2019), Finland has won silver in two of the last four years (2022, 2025) while they claimed bronze in 2021.
Germany will be hoping for a return to the quarterfinals in 2026. The previous two years they have had to win the Relegation Round game to maintain their status but from 2021-23, the Germans were quarterfinalists at the tournament. In their American opponents, the hosts will be looking to three-peat after gold medal successes in 2024 and 2025. The USA are seven-time champions have also been victorious in 2004, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021 while since 2010, they’ve collected 10 medals.
In the final contest of the game, Czechia and Canada meet once again. Czechia have medalled in the past three tournaments having claimed silver in 2023 and bronze in 2024 and 2025. Their lone gold medal successes came in back-to-back years in 2000 and 2001. As for Canada, the 20-time champions are looking to medal for the first time since they won gold in 2023 after consecutive quarterfinal exits at the hands of Czechia in 2024 and 2025. Between 2018-23, Canada won gold on four occasions and finished as silver medallists once.
Where to watch:
Sweden and Slovakia can be seen live on TSN 1/3 while Denmark’s contest with Finland is available on TSN 1/4/5. TSN 1/3 will show Germany and USA while Canada’s matchup with Czechia is live on TSN 1/3/4/5.
Tournament notes:
78 past and present CHL players to compete at 2026 World Juniors
Canada roster
Non-Canada players
