QMJHL players to watch at 2025 World Juniors

The QMJHL will be represented by 16 players at the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship, which kicks off in Ottawa on December 26.
As you know, Mathieu Cataford of the Rimouski Océanic and Ethan Gauthier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs were recently confirmed on Team Canada.

The Canadian team will therefore be counting on two of our players, as will Germany (Carlos Handel, Mooseheads, and Julius Sumpf, Wildcats), Switzerland (Basile Sansonnens, Océanic, and Lars Steiner, Huskies) and Czechia (Jakub Milota, Eagles, and Pavel Simek, Océanic).

However, Latvia and Slovakia will have the strongest QMJHL contingent, with four representatives each. Linards Feldbergs of the Phoenix, Peteris Bulans of the Saguenéens, Harijs Cjunskis of the Huskies and Eriks Mateiko of the Sea Dogs will suit up for Latvia.

Meanwhile, Samuel Kupec of the Armada, Juraj Pekarcik of the Wildcats, Andreas Straka of the Remparts and Peter Valent, also of the Remparts, will defend the Slovakian colors.

The Québec Remparts won’t be the only club to lose its two Europeans to the World Junior Championship this holiday season. The Moncton Wildcats (Pekarcik and Sumpf), Rimouski Océanic (Sansonnens and Simek) and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (Cjunkis and Steiner) will be in the same boat.

With the addition of Canada’s Cataford, the Océanic will be the most well-represented QMJHL franchise, with three skaters at the tournament.

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QMJHL players at the World Junior Championship:

Canada (2)
Mathieu Cataford, forward, Rimouski Océanic
Ethan Gauthier, forward, Drummondville Voltigeurs

Czechia (2)
Jakub Milota, goaltender, Cape Breton Eagles
Pavel Simek, forward, Rimouski Océanic

Germany (2)
Carlos Handel, defenseman, Halifax Mooseheads
Julius Sumpf, forward, Moncton Wildcats

Latvia (4)
Linards Feldbergs, goaltender, Sherbrooke Phoenix
Peteris Bulans, defenseman, Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Harijs Cjunskis, defenseman, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Eriks Mateiko, forward, Saint John Sea Dogs

Slovakia (4)
Samuel Kupec, defenseman, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
Juraj Pekarcik, forward, Moncton Wildcats
Andreas Straka, forward, Québec Remparts
Peter Valent, forward, Québec Remparts

Switzerland (2)
Basile Sansonnens, defenseman, Rimouski Océanic
Lars Steiner, forward, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

*no representatives with USA, Finland, Kazakhstan and Sweden