It’s that time of the year again and no we do not mean Christmas. We are talking about the time of the year that the world’s best junior hockey players all converge into one city to play for their respective countries. This year that city is Malmö, Sweden, where for 11 days these teams will compete to find out who is the best in the world.
The best under 20 players from 10 countries start round robin play on December 26th. Two groups of five teams will play each other over the next six days to establish their seeding in the Quarterfinals which get underway on January 2nd, 2014. The top four from each group will move on to the Playoff Round. Group A consist of Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and reigning champs United States. Group B holds host team Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, Finland, and Norway.
Team USA’s first of four games within their group has a puck drop time of 11:30am ET on opening day (12/26) when they take on the Czech Republic. Germany and Canada will be in action earlier in the day with a 7:30am ET puck drop. From there team USA plays Slovakia at 7:30am ET on 12/28, Germany on 12/29 at 9am ET, and finally Canada on 12/31 at 11:30am ET. All Team USA games will be available on NHL network along with being streamed online at NHL.com.
The NHL network will also air each of the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally the Bronze and Gold medal matches. Click here for a full schedule of action on the NHL Network.
We will bring you game recaps from each Team USA game as they attempt to repeat as champions.
