2025 World Junior Championship roster preview: United States and Canada

Every year, the IIHF holds the World Junior Championships from late December into early January, which means that the tournament is right around the corner.

The best prospects in the world get to compete for their country and show off their talent.

Many future NHLers play in this tournament and we have seen some dominating performances.

One of the most notable was Connor Bedard who holds the record for the most points at the tournament for Canada as he had 36 points in the two tournaments he played at.

If he weren't playing in the NHL right now, he would be eligible to play at this one and increase his point total.

The North American teams have released their roster and here are my reactions to them.

Canada

Canada has been one of the powerhouses in the sport and at this tournament for a long time. They didn’t have as good of a year last year as they came in fifth place at the tournament.

They are looking to change that on their home turf this year.

To make it happen they are bringing a roster full of NHL talent.

The forward core looks great for the Canadian team. They will be led by Brayden Yager who was named captain of the team.

Along with him, you have multiple players who can put up points and be great players for this team.

One play that needs to be watched is Gavin McKenna. He has been receiving tons of hype as one of the next great NHL players.

He has dominated so far this season for Medicine Hat Tigers and is playing in his first tournament.

He has had as much hype as Connor Bedard had going into his first tournament. He is projected to be the first pick in the 2026 NHL entry draft and will be able to showcase why at this tournament.

The defense looks solid for Canada and will be highlighted by multiple NHL prospects. Sam Dickinson and Oliver Bonk will be huge pieces for this defense.

Finally in net is where it matters a lot. Having a good goalie can make or break a team. For Canada, they have this.

They will run a trio of Carson Bjarnason, Carter George and Jack Ivankovic. All of these guys are capable goalies.

Bjarnason will likely be leading the way.

One of the most surprising players who was left off was Beckett Sennecke.

United States

The United States did what every team wanted to do. They took home the gold medal.

With that said they lost tons of talent from last year's team but have also gained a lot.

Let's start with the forwards which is where this team looks scary. The likely first line consists of a trio that has been tearing up college hockey.

The United States gets the Boston College line of James Hagens, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault.

After that, they have even more talent in players like Oliver Moore and Cole Eiserman.

On defense, they look strong with returners such as Zeev Buium and Drew Fortescue. Along with this, they added another top defenseman in Logan Hensler.

Their blue line looks good but their goaltending looks better.

In net, we will see Trey Augustine who won gold for the United States last year and has been dominating college hockey.

Augustine will be the difference maker for this United States team because he is the best goalie in the tournament.

Behind him are Sam Hillebrandt and Hampton Slukynsky.

This United States team is bringing talent and looking to repeat.

Both North American teams look great this year and could win gold.

It will be fun to see them compete in the round-robin and the later rounds.

They will play each other on Dec. 31.

Andrew Matz is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email atm5759@psu.edu.