The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will be held in Ottawa from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Today, we preview the Group A preliminary-round bracket. Ryan Leonard and Zeev Buium are two of six first-round NHL draft picks hoping to bring the United States a second straight championship for the first time at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

World Junior Championship is set to kick-off and the top amateur players go toe-to-toe for global hockey supremacy. The United States enter the tournament as the defending gold medalists after they knocked off silver medalist Sweden 6-2 in the final game.

The 10-team tournament starts Thursday, with the best under-20 players in hockey. Here are the gold medal favorites and players set to break out.

The tournament has become a holiday tradition for many hockey fans around the world, beginning on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) each year and ending during the first week of the new year. The WJC has grown remarkably since the inaugural (official) tournament was held in 1977 and has massive international support.

At the conclusion of the Gold Medal match the IIHF directorate are asked to vote on a variety of awards for the year’s tournament. They name the best defenseman, best forward, and best goaltender for the tournament while members of the media decide the tournament’s MVP.