The 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2026 WJC) was the 50th Ice Hockey World Junior Championships, held from December 26, 2025, to January 5, 2026. Sweden won their third championship (first since 2012), 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: Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, and 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.
Saint Paul Minneapolis Grand Casino ArenaCapacity: 17,954 3M Arena at MariucciCapacity: 10,257
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. TeamQualification methodAppearance(s)Previous best performance First in 2025 1977202550 Second in 202550 Third in 202550 Fourth in 202550 Fifth in 202550 Sixth in 2025 199631 Seventh in 2025 2006 5 Eighth in 2025 1978 17 Ninth in 2025 19777 Champions of Division I A 2008 2019 1
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
Linesmen 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 (Grand Casino Arena) (1) (4) (6) (8) (9)
Group B (3M Arena at Mariucci) (2) (3) (5) (7) (11–promoted)
Tie-breaking criteriaThe ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:
points; head-to-head points; head-to-head goal difference; head-to-head number of goals scored; result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; result against next best-ranked team outside tied teams; seeding before tournament.
All times are local, CST (UTC−6).
Group A
Group B
Relegation round
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
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Statistics As of 2026-01-06 (13:48 GMT), iihf.com has not updated tournament stats to include the gold medal game. Scoring leaders PosPlayerCountryGPGAPts+/−PIM 1 Michael Hage 7 2 13 15 +7 0 2 Gavin McKenna 7 4 10 14 +7 14 3 Zayne Parekh 7 5 8 13 +5 10 4 Vojtěch Čihař 7 4 8 12 +7 2 5 Ivar Stenberg 7 4 6 10 +5 6 6 Jack Berglund 7 3 7 10 +9 4 7 Porter Martone 7 6 3 9 +4 6 8 Viggo Björck 7 3 6 9 +5 2 8 Tomáš Galvas 7 3 6 9 +7 0 8 Heikki Ruohonen 7 3 6 9 +6 4 GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In MinutesSource 1: IIHF.com (pdf)Source 2: IIHF.comSource 3: eliteprospects.com
Goaltending leaders (minimum 40% team's total ice time)
PosPlayerCountryTOIGAGAASASv%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 (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = ShutoutsSource1: IIHF.com (pdf)Source2: IIHF.com
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 Source:
Final standings
Division I
Group A The Division I, Group A, tournament was played in Bled, Slovenia, between December 7 and 13, 2025.
Group B The Division I, Group B, tournament was played in Milan, Italy, between December 8 and 14, 2025.
Division II
Group A The Division II, Group A, tournament was played in Bucharest, Romania, between January 4 and 10, 2026.
Group B The Division II, Group B, tournament was played in Belgrade, Serbia, between January 18 and 24, 2026.
Division III
Group A The Division III, Group A, tournament was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, between January 19 and 25, 2026.
Group B The Division III, Group B, tournament was played in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, between January 18 and 24, 2026.
References