The 2024-25 World Juniors kicked off on December 26th. Going into the tournament the top 3 contenders were Canada, the USA (Current Champions), and Sweden. Out of these teams, the overall best team was Canada; they had some of the best talents on their team, including Carter George, Sam Dickinson, Matthew Schaefer, Porter Martone, and Berkly Catton, and front lining it was one of the most hype prospects 17-year-old Gavin Mckenna. The USA wasn’t far behind as they had top-tier players like Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, Trey Augustine, Trevor Connelly, Cole Hutson, Zeev Buium, and the best player in the tournament, James Hagens.
The preliminary round brought some surprises. The main surprise was team Latvia and how well they played against Canada. Latvia stunned Canada 3-2 in a shootout, all because Latvian goalie Linards Feldbergs made 32 saves during regulation and OT and then stopped all eight of Canada’s shots during the shootout. Latvia won 4-3 against Germany and went to the Quarterfinals, shocking the tournament. Going into the USA vs Latvia game, it felt like the entire momentum was with Latvia as the USA won in a sloppy performance by goalie Trey Augustine in a 10-4 win. The USA dominated Latvia, winning 5-1 and showing Canada how it’s done. The most hyped game during the prelims was USA vs Canada, expected to be thrilling, close, and exciting, which wasn’t accurate. The USA smoked Canada 4-1, thanks to Trey Augustine making 38 saves, proving why he’s the best goalie in the tournament. The USA flew through the Prelims, only losing one game against Finland in OT.
The USA had to face Switzerland in the Quarterfinals, which was light work smoking the Swiss 7-2. Everyone was expecting a USA vs Canada semifinal. But for the second year in a row, the Czechs upset Canada in the final minute to move on to play the USA in the semifinal. The USA wasn’t bothered by the Czechs beating them 4-1 and advancing to the final for the second year. The USA had a chance to do something never done before, winning back-to-back golds.
In the World Junior final, the USA had to go against Finland, the only team that the USA had lost to in the tournament before. Finland opened up the scoring as Jesse Kiiskinen scored a Power play goal to put Finland up 0-1. The best prospect in the tournament, James Hagens, tied it up 1-1 after scoring on one of Ryan Leonard’s rebounds. Finland’s Tuomas Uronen broke the tie 59 seconds after James Hagens’ goal to put Finland up 1-2. Heading into the 2nd period, the USA was looking for a goal to tie the game up; unfortunately, Emil Pieniniemi scored to give Finland a 1-3 lead. The USA had never been down by two goals, and the game seemed like it was all Finland for a while. With 2:22 left in the 2nd, Brandon Svoboda scored to make the game 2-3. With 28.7 seconds left in the 2nd, Cole Huston scored to tie the game up 3-3 and bring back the USA’s hopes for their first back gold. The third period was scoreless for both teams, which meant they had to go to a 3v3 OT. Fans were reminded of the OT loss to Finland in the prelims, but the hope was still alive. 8 minutes into OT, Teddy Stiga scored the Golden goal, winning the gold for the USA 4-3. It was the USA’s first-ever back-to-back gold and showed the World that they are the future of Hockey and that Canada won’t be dominating it like they did for centuries. Teddy Stiga was named player of the game, and Ryan Leonard, who finished the tournament with 10 points (five goals and five assists), won tournament MVP.
