2025 World Juniors recap

The World Juniors has come and gone for the 2024-25 edition and the tournament brought a bunch of storylines and had big-time moments that will be remembered for years to come.

These moments and many others will be what is talked about in future years as the World Juniors continues to develop and become bigger.

USA Goal Song - Free Bird

Let’s start it off with something not performance-related. The United States team has changed its goal song every year and this year is by far the best one. Free Bird coming on after the team scores is one of the best things of this tournament.

In future years, the team is going to have to somehow top this electric song and as they continue to pick songs that have some connection to the country, it will be hard to top this one, especially because of the popularity of the song.

Canadian Struggles

Team Canada is always one of the top teams in the tournament. This year’s team may be one of the worst teams in recent history for the Canadians.

The 5-on-5 struggles from this team were nothing short of disastrous and another year ended by Czechia is something not to be proud of in a country that holds hockey to the highest standard.

The bright side of this team was Jack Ivankovic. Once the coaching staff solidified him as the top netminder on the team, he showed why he’s one of the top goalie prospects for the upcoming NHL Draft.

Ivankovic was the reason Team Canada made it as far as they did. The future looks bright for this Canadian team with future superstar Gavin McKenna waiting in the wings.

Latvia on the Rise

With victories over Canada and Germany, the Latvian team won two games in the World Juniors for the first time in history.

The sport continues to grow in Latvia and it is showing with the upcoming rise of the junior team. Don’t be surprised if they make even bigger strides in years to come.

Finland comes up just short

After defeating the United States team in the preliminary round the Finnish team looked to be one of, if not the favorite to win the whole thing.

However, with the second matchup against the Americans coming in the gold medal match, Team Finland fell just short in overtime.

This is a good sign for the future of hockey in Finland with the team making the Gold Medal Game after defeating its neighboring rival Sweden in the Semifinals.

United States goes back-to-back

With the return of a couple of stars on the U.S. team, the country had high hopes of winning gold in back-to-back years. It helped that there was a down year for the Canadian team, but nothing was really coming in the way of Team USA’s dominance.

Two very close games with Finland proved the two teams were the top in the tournament and Teddy Stiga put the tournament to an end with an overtime goal.

There is going to have to be a big-time reload next year with the Boston College line not being available again. The BC line was a major factor in the performance and dominance of the United States squad.

Andrew Deal is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu.