The 2020 edition of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship (‘World Juniors’) is set to open on Boxing Day – December 26th 2019.  This year’s competition is being hosted by the Czech Republic with the tournament being held in the cities of Ostrava and Třinec

Team Canada is ready to compete in the tournament, and is looking to improve on their sixth place finish last year when Finland, the eventual Gold Medallists, eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs.

This year’s team will consist of the following players (jersey number in parentheses):

Goalies:

Nico Daws (#1)
Joel Hofer (#30)
Olivier Rodrigue (#31)

Forwards:

Liam Foudy (#8)
Joe Veleno (#9)
Raphaël Lavoie (#10)
Alexis Lafrenière (#11)
Benoît-Olivier Groulx (#12)
Akil Thomas (#16)
Connor McMichael (#17)
Ty Dellandrea (#18)
Quinton Byfield (#19)
Dawson Mercer (#20)
Dylan Cozens (#22)
Aidan Dudas (#25)
Barrett Hayton (#27)
Nolan Foote (#29)

Defencemen:

Kevin Bahl (#2)
Calen Addison (#3)
Bowen Byram (#4)
Jacob Bernard-Docker (#5)
Jamie Drysdale (#6)
Jared McIsaac (#14)
Ty Smith (#24)

Team Canada plays in Group B, and opens the tournament on December 26th against archrivals The United States.  They then play their other archrivals, Russia, on December 28th.  They then round out group play against Germany on December 30th and against the hosts, Czech Republic, on December 31st.

The playoffs start on January 2nd, 2020 with the medal games being played on January 5th.

Team Canada has won the most titles in the history of the competition, winning 17 Gold Medals, to go with nine Silver Medals and five Bronze Medals.  Their total of 31 medals is the second best in overall medal count with only the Russian team winning more total medals at 36.

Team Canada won its first Gold Medal in 1982, the sixth year of the competition, but had won a Silver in 1977 and a Bronze in 1978.  Team Canada would have two very successful winning streaks winning five streak Gold Medals between 1993 and 1997, and again from 2005 to 2009.  Team Canada would also win a medal for 14 straight years between 1999 and 2012, and for 19 years out of 20 between 1993 and 2012 (the only exception coming in 1998.)

So let’s cheer on Team Canada as it looks to win another Gold Medal at the World Juniors.