2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 50th Ice Hockey World Junior Championships, held from December 26, 2025 to January 5, 2026. Sweden won their third championship, defeating Czechia 4–2 in the gold medal game.
Top Division
Background
The tournament returned to Minneapolis–Saint Paul after being previously co-hosted there in 1982. This was the seventh time that the United States hosted the WJC and first time since 2018.Venues
The tournament games were played at two arenas:Qualified teams
Ten teams took part in the competition. Denmark returned for the first time since 2019, replacing Kazakhstan who were relegated back to Division I, Group A, after finishing last in 2025.Match officials
The following officials were assigned by the IIHF to officiate the 2026 World Junior Championships.Referees
- Cedric Borga
- Andreas Huber
- Martin Jobbágy
- John Lindner
- Richard Magnusson
- Tomáš Mejzlík
- Troy Murray
- Alexander Österberg
- Rocco Stachowiak
- Adam Tobias
- Hayden Verbeek
- Janne Wuorenheimo
- Nicholas Albinati
- Scott Allan
- Albert Ankerstjerne
- Bryan Gorcoff
- Matthew Heinen
- Anthony LaPointe
- Luka Mäkinen
- Joni Pekkala
- Luke Pye
- Michael Stalder
- Rasmus Strömberg
- David Thuma
Rosters
To be eligible as a junior player, a player couldn't be born earlier than 2006. A maximum of 22 skaters and 3 goalkeepers could be named to a roster, with a maximum of 20 skaters and 2 goalkeepers dressing each game.Preliminary round
Seeding
;Group A;Group B
| Tie-breaking criteria |
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:
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Group A
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Group B
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Playoff round
Quarterfinal winners were reseeded for the semifinals in accordance with the following ranking:- Placement in group
- Points in preliminary round
- Goal differential in preliminary round
- Number of goals scored in preliminary round
- Seeding coming into the tournament
| Rank | Team | Group | |||||
| 1 | A | 1 | 12 | +13 | 21 | 4 | |
| 2 | B | 1 | 11 | +14 | 25 | 5 | |
| 3 | A | 2 | 9 | +2 | 17 | 1 | |
| 4 | B | 2 | 8 | +6 | 18 | 3 | |
| 5 | B | 3 | 7 | +8 | 19 | 2 | |
| 6 | A | 3 | 6 | +2 | 10 | 8 | |
| 7 | B | 4 | 4 | –8 | 9 | 7 | |
| 8 | A | 4 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 6 |
Statistics
''As of 2026-01-06, iihf.com has not updated tournament stats to include the gold medal game.''Scoring leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In MinutesSource 1:
Source 2:
Source 3:
Goaltending leaders
| Pos | Player | Country | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| 1 | Jack Ivankovic | 179:43 | 7 | 2.34 | 85 | 91.76 | 0 | |
| 2 | Love Härenstam | 370:00 | 15 | 2.43 | 168 | 91.07 | 0 | |
| 3 | Christian Kirsch | 178:23 | 8 | 2.69 | 83 | 90.36 | 1 | |
| 4 | Elijah Neuenschwander | 119:23 | 5 | 2.51 | 51 | 90.20 | 0 | |
| 5 | Nicholas Kempf | 140:06 | 6 | 2.57 | 57 | 89.47 | 0 |
TOI = Time on ice ; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source1:
Source2:
Awards
- Best players selected by the directorate:
- *Best Goaltender: Love Härenstam
- *Best Defenceman: Adam Jiříček
- *Best Forward: Anton Frondell
- Media All-Stars:
- *MVP: Vojtěch Čihař
- *Goaltender: Love Härenstam
- *Defencemen: Zayne Parekh / Tomáš Galvas
- *Forwards: Michael Hage / Anton Frondell / Vojtěch Čihař