ROSTERS, SCHEDULES, PREVIEWS, AND PREDICTIONS
Oh, it's the most wonderful time of the year! With the holiday season almost over, we're about to unwrap Malmรถ, Sweden chasing gold medals and national pride.
one of the greatest gifts of all: World Junior hockey. Yes, it's the same present every year, like socks from grandma, but unlike those socks, the IIHF's annual tournament manages to maintain enough charm to keep us elated year after year. This year will likely be no different, as the best junior age hockey talent on Earth will be in
Here we've compiled every team's roster, round robin schedule, and a preview of what to expect from them over the next two weeks in Sweden.
There's two groups with five teams each, and it's worth mentioning that this is the first time that the top FOUR teams from both groups will advance to a single-elimination quarterfinal. Previously, only the top three countries would advance and the top team from the group would have a first round bye. Now, every squad will have to win three straight games with their championship dreams on the line if they want to go back home with gold around their necks.
Unlike the NHL, overtime and shootout wins are scored differently than regulation wins. A victory in regulation is worth three points, an overtime/shootout victory worth two points, an OT/shootout loss only one point, and, of course, a loss in regulation gets you a big fat goose egg towards the group standings.
Now that those technicalities are out of the way, we can finally take a look at the teams that will be competing against each other.
