It’s that time of the year again. Presents, stockings, turkey, and top-notch Junior Hockey on display to complete the Holiday Season. Every December, hockey fans know they’ll find under the tree the holiday tradition known as the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, aka the World Juniors.
SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (Ch. 91) has front row tickets to the action beginning on Sunday, December 26th, as the best young players in the world gather yet again in Edmonton, Alberta to decide Junior Hockey supremacy. And this year, the players head down Highway 2 a stretch to play some games in Red Deer, Alberta (home of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, don’t you know?)
Like last year, everybody has to be mindful of the uninvited guest COVID, but with vaccination rates continuing to climb, we are in a better position to deal with it compared to this time last year…even with a nasty variant trying its best to upend things. That’s why we’re back in Northern Alberta, as this year’s tournament was initially slated for Gothenburg, Sweden. All things being equal, we’ll be there this time next year.
Returning as defending champions are the United States, who took down Canada 2-0 in the Gold Medal Game last year. It was the fourth time the Yanks beat the Canucks in the big game, and the fifth time overall that the gold medal was won by the States.
This time around, impact players such as Jake Sanderson, Luke Hughes, and Matty Beniers will don the Red, White, and Blue in pursuit of Gold. They will be in Group B, and face Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia (on New year’s Eve) to open up the tournament.
Team Canada will be represented by the likes of Cole Perfetti, Kaiden Guhle, Owen Power, and 16-year-old forward Connor Bedard. The Canadians are in Group A, and take on the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, and Finland in the preliminary round.
Canada leads the way with 18 gold medals, last winning gold in 2020. The Russians are next with 13, followed by 5 for Finland, and the United States. Sweden and the Czech Republic each have 2 gold medals in their collection.
Remember, there hasn’t been a repeat champion since Canada reeled off five-in-a-row between 2005 and 2009.
Over the 45 times the IIHF World Junior Championships have been held, some of the biggest names in hockey have represented their respective countries. The alumni list of current NHLers is impressive and includes Auston Matthews, Artemi Panarin, Carter Hart, John Tavares, Shea Theodore, Roman Josi, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Jonathan Toews, John Gibson, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, and Connor McDavid.
Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Modano, Roberto Luongo, Markus Naslund, Jon Casey, Eric Lindros, Peter Forsberg, Pavel Bure, Doug Weight, Theo Fleury, Jeremy Roenick, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Vernon, Sean Burke, Mike Richter, Tomas Vokoun, and Dominik Hasek all suited up for their respective countries during this illustrious tournament.
Who will add their name to this impressive list? Which country takes home the coveted gold medal? Will the U.S. repeat as champions? The answers to those questions are contained in the games, and SiriusXM NHL Network Radio will be there, beginning Boxing Day, Sunday, December 26th with an opening day doubleheader; Canada vs. the Czech Republic, then the States against Slovakia.
As the tournament progresses, you’ll be able to find all of the play-by-play action on Canada Talks SiriusXM (CH. 167).
To get you up to speed for this year’s tournament, Shayne Malloy and Brad Allen host the World Junior Preview Show at 9 pm Eastern on Christmas Eve. If you’re too busy enjoying the festivities that evening, you can also hear the program at 12 noon Eastern on Christmas Day, and at 5 pm Eastern on December 26th, right before the first game.
Czech Republic v Canada- 7pm ET – NHL Network Radio SiriusXM 91
United States v Slovakia – 9:30pm ET – NHL Network Radio SiriusXM 91
Switzerland v United States – 4:30pm ET – NHL Network Radio SiriusXM 91
Austria v Canada- 7pm ET – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
Canada v Germany – 7pm ET – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
Sweden v United States – 9:30pm ET – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
Canada v Finland- 7pm ET – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
United States v Russia – 9:30pm ET – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
Quarterfinals – Teams, Times and Channels TBD
Semi-Finals – Teams and Times TBD – Canada Talks SiriusXM 167
Gold Medal Game – 8pm ET – Teams TBD – Canada Talks SXM 167
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