The 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship resumes with the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The semifinals are Thursday and the championship and third-place game are Friday.
On Tap for the quarterfinals
All games on NHL Network in U.S., TSN in Canada
Slovakia vs. Finland (6 a.m. ET): Slovakia hasn't won a medal at the World Juniors since a bronze in 2015 and will have to put its 10-2 loss to the United States on Sunday in the rear-view mirror quickly. If Slovakia coach Ivan Fenes hadn't opted to rest goalie Adam Gajan (Chicago Blackhawks) on Sunday so he could prepare for the medal round, it could have been a different story. Gajan was voted the best goalie of the 2023 WJC and has a .934 save percentage and one shutout in three games this year. He's also getting offensive support, topped by Servac Petrovsky (Minnesota Wild), who leads the tournament with nine points (five goals, four assists). Slovakia also has the tournament's top power play (43.7 percent, 7-for-16) and its penalty kill is third (88.2 percent) among the 10 teams.
Finland didn't play its best game, winning 5-4 in a shootout against Sweden on Sunday, but goalie Noa Vali (2024 draft eligible) has been good (.929 save percentage in two games) and might have taken the medal-round starting job from Niklas Kokko (Seattle Kraken). Kasper Halttunen (San Jose Sharks) is Finland's best offensive threat with six points (three goals, three assists) but he'll need help for Finland to advance.
Canada vs. Czechia (8:30 a.m. ET): Canada is led by its youngest player at the WJC for the second year in a row. After Connor Bedard's remarkable run at the 2023 WJC, now it's 17-year-old Macklin Celebrini, the projected top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, who has a team-best eight points (four goals, four assists), including two goals in a 6-3 win against Germany on Sunday. One was a highlight-reel, sharp-angle shot in the third period (link to: https://twitter.com/IIHFHockey/status/1741563803135795297) after he won a puck race with goalie Matthias Bittner. "He's super skilled, loves hockey," Canada forward Matthew Poitras (Boston Bruins) said. "I've noticed he's always the last guy off the ice, loves working on skills. He's a special player." Canada will need more than Celebrini, however. Owen Beck (Montreal Canadiens), their only returning player from the 2023 WJC, scored his first goal Sunday, as did Jordan Dumais (Columbus Blue Jackets), who was leading the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in scoring when he left for the World Juniors. Poitras, who has played in the NHL all season, has three points (two goals, one assist). Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken) could add energy if he makes his tournament debut Tuesday after being added to the roster Saturday.
Czechia will be looking for a measure of revenge after losing 3-2 in overtime to Canada in the gold-medal game last year. Jiri Kulich (Buffalo Sabres), who tied for second last year with seven goals, led Czechia with four goals in the preliminary round. Goalie Michael Hrabal (Arizona Coyotes), who has played every minute of the first four games, has an .888 save percentage and at 6-foot-6, 209 pounds, takes up a lot of net.
United States vs. Latvia (11 a.m. ET): The U.S. enters the medal round as the No. 1 overall seed after winning its four preliminary-round games by a combined score of 29-9. Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets) has been the biggest offensive contributor with a tournament-high six goals, and his line with Isaac Howard (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks) has combined for 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists). Scoring depth might be the biggest U.S. strength; with Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues), who was tied for the team lead with four goals entering their game against Slovakia on Sunday, out because of an illness, Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) had a hat trick and Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers) had a goal and two assists in a 10-2 victory. "It's huge for those guys especially with Jimmy not in the lineup," U.S. coach David Carle said. "To score 10 without him here with us today was big and there's no doubt we need we need scoring from throughout our lineup. That's how you win single-elimination tournaments."
Latvia reached the medal round despite scoring six goals and having a minus-16 goal differential. Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) led them with three points (two goals, one assist) during the preliminary round.
Sweden vs. Switzerland (1:30 p.m. ET): Sweden looked like a determined team in shutout victories in its first three games and dominated Finland during the second and third period in its 5-4 shootout loss Sunday. Filip Bystedt (San Jose Sharks), who is tied for the team lead with three goals, is one of eight players back from last year's team that finished fourth after losing to the U.S. in the bronze-medal game and said before the tournament there still is a feeling of anger about how things ended. "We are a team that wants to win and going out in the semifinals was tough last year," he said. "This year we're more hungry than we can be to go through this and play in the final."
Switzerland's only WJC medal was a bronze in 1998, and along the way it defeated Sweden 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Matching that feat this year will be difficult after scoring 11 goals in four preliminary-round games. Jonas Taibel (2024 draft eligible) leads Switzerland with five points (one goal, four assists) but no player scored more than two goals.
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