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Sweden hoists the first place trophy after defeating Czechia in the final of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship (Nick Wosika-Imagn Images)

World Juniors Are All About Development & Experience

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 1:15 PM ET

The 2026 World Junior Championship has officially wrapped up play with Sweden taking gold, Czechia taking silver, and Canada taking bronze. It was a busy couple of weeks of hockey for everyone involved, and there were some great games played. This was the tournament’s 50th year, and while it’s well known in Canada and Europe, the American crowd is still getting into it.

This tournament showcases the best of the best in the 17-20-year-old division, with some kids as young as 15 depending on the country. All of these teams wanted to be deemed the best of the best and win gold, plus show their talents for the number of NHL scouts in the crowd. Many of these players will go on to play in the NHL and continue to show their talents. In this article, we’ll look at what this tournament means, but also remember, they are just kids.

World Juniors Means Best of the Best

The NHL is finally having its “best on best” competition with the Four Nations last season and now the Olympics this season. Fans are ecstatic. However, at the younger age level, that kind of competition happens every season in the World Juniors. The best of the best compete for their respective countries, trying to leave with a gold medal.

Many NHL players have played in the tournament over the years, and it’s a great chance to see these players before they become pros, as many of them will. They all want to make their respective countries proud, and obviously, they are highly competitive individuals who want to win all the time. However, while they are the best of the best, they’re still going to make mistakes and have room to improve their game.

“I want to see how we respond now. I want to grow. You want to take the steps, clean up some of the things we did. It’s a journey, and you’re gonna have this. We want to see more detail in our game tomorrow, same energy, more detail. They were a little nervous tonight, too. These are young kids; they get nervous,” said USA head coach Bob Motzko about what he wanted the team to take away from the first game of the tournament, but the players are also young kids who show nerves.

“I don’t want to really comment too much on what it was, it wasn’t good, I can tell you that, but yeah, to rush myself back, didn’t do enough to help the team win,” Cole Hutson said after Team USA lost and continued on the disappointment, “Yeah, I don’t have a gold medal around my neck. Could have scored a goal in overtime, could have done plenty of things better.”

World Juniors Equals Pressure

While these players are the best of the best, it’s also important and astonishing to remember they are just kids. These are high school and college-aged kids who are just figuring out adulthood, and add to that playing for your country in a tournament of this caliber, the pressure is insane.

While it’s true, hearing kids this age say “We let our country down” when they lost early is something that catches most off guard. It makes complete sense what they’re saying, and while it may be true, imagine having that weight on your shoulders when you were in high school. They may go on to be professionals and have to deal with that type of pressure a lot. It’s impressive to see them deal with it maturely at such a young age and continue to learn.

“We let our country down, we’re on home soil, they did a great job coming to our games, and we didn’t do it for them, and that’s the hardest part,” Cole Eiserman said after Team USA lost to Finland and was eliminated.

“Yes, we got so loose at times yesterday, and today we were tight. We’re dealing with a lot of young guys that love to score, and we had to tell them, convince them that you guys had a really tough, hard game tonight, and you played excellent, and they gotta buy into that. Their whole career, they’re going to find themselves in games like this…you don’t plan for it, and all the sudden it’s the middle of the game, and you’re in one….” said Motzko about adjusting their game before they were eliminated and continuing to learn as they play.

World Juniors Are Kids

This tournament may be about winning a gold medal and being the best of the best. The biggest thing to remember when watching these games is that they are just kids. Yes, they have chosen their path to play hockey and be put in the spotlight for everyone to judge their gameplay, but they also deserve respect. They still do normal kid things like watch movies together and are pretty inseparable with their teammates, just like when they were younger.

“We’re unbelievably close, we watch movies in the hotel all the time, we just finished Harry Potter and Star Wars, so we’re all watching movies together, bonding together. You’ll never see a guy alone, I’ll hang out one-on-one with all 24 of those guys in the locker room, so we’re extremely close and Duluth helped a lot with that, and of course, just playing with each other, against each other growing up helps a lot too and it’s just been nothing but a blast here…,” said Will Zellers about how close the team was.

“Yeah, not great, obviously sad, but still super happy for the opportunity, got to spend Christmas with some of my best friends in the world, so couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity and just disappointed we didn’t come out with the gold medal,” Hutson said after Team USA lost but he was able to spend time with those close to him.

The World Juniors is an amazing tournament full of a lot of talented players who are playing with the weight of their country on their shoulders. They want nothing more than to win gold and make their country proud. Some win, some don’t, but they still make memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.