While the festive season begins, for some of the top young talent in the world the games continue as the IIHF World Junior Championships begin in a week’s time. Ten countries will compete between 26 December and 5 January 2020 to be crowned champions, with Finland coming in as defending champions after securing their fifth title last year.
While Champions Hockey League action doesn’t return until early January, there is some CHL interest in this tournament as some of Europe’s top rising talents will be heading out to Ostrava and Třinec for the competition, including some that have already featured in the CHL this season.
After impressing in two CHL games this season for Kärpät Oulu, 19-year-old goalie Justus Annunen is called up for his first World Juniors tournament, hoping to help Finland to glory and he’ll be competing for the starting job with Jasper Patrikainen who may not have played in the CHL this season, but is part of a Lahti Pelicans squad that made their tournament debut this year.
Finland has been a hotbed of young talent over the last few years, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to be slowing down any time soon, with several young CHLers named to the provisional squad for Finland including the Räty brothers as both Aku and Aatu of Kärpät are called up, along with Aleks Haatanen of Lahti, and Patrik Puistola and Toni Utunen of Tappara Tampere also among the initial selection squad.
It’s been a while since Sweden claimed gold at the World Juniors, with their last title coming back in 2012, but they’ll be hoping to end that drought this year as they take on Finland in Group A, and they’ll have a few familiar names among their group of players.
Top prospect and Frölunda Indians forward Lucas Raymond has been cleared to participate in the tournament after injury meant the rising star may have missed the competition entirely, but he’s fit to go, and he’ll be joined by his teammate Samuel Fagemo who has been outstanding for the reigning CHL champions this season. Alexander Holtz of Djurgården Stockholm is also named to the squad, while Oskar Bäck of Färjestad Karlstad, Philip Broberg and Albin Eriksson of Skellefteå AIK as well as Nils Lundkvist of Luleå Hockey all crack the lineup after having decent showings in the CHL action this year.
Rounding out the CHL participants in Group A of the World Juniors are a group of players from Switzerland with Netminder Luca Hollenstein in net after he shone for EV Zug with a 95.3% save percentage in five games this year. Joining him are SC Bern’s Jeremi Gerber and Mika Henauer, as well as Jérôme Moser and Gilian Kohler of EHC Biel-Bienne.
Over in Group B, there are still a number of young CHLers called up, and as Germany return to the top division, forward Tim Stützle will be among the teams’ leaders next week, after he’s impressing in his draft year for Adler Mannheim. While he’s notched 23-points in 25 DEL games to date, he was hugely impressive for Mannheim in the CHL this year, with a five-point campaign. Joining Stützle in the German squad are Filip Varejcka, Dennis Lobach and Philipp Mass who have all suited up for Red Bull Munich this year, while John-Jason Peterka and Justin Schütz also join from Munich after the pair have had hugely impressive CHL campaigns despite their young age.
Jan Šír is the only player who’s played in the CHL called up in the initial squad to represent the Czech Republic so far, with the Bílí Tygři Liberec youngster featuring in three games for the Czech side this season, while he’s performing well in his domestic campaign with 3-points in nine games for Liberec.
So with the festive season almost in full swing, the hockey continues as the puck drops on the opening World Junior games on 26 December as Switzerland take on Kazakhstan in Třinec while the Czech Republic take on Russia at the same time in Ostrava.