# 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

The 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2025 WJHC) was the 49th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, held from December 26, 2024 to January 5, 2025. The United States won their second consecutive championship, defeating Finland 4–3 in overtime of the gold medal game.

## Top Division
### Background

The tournament returned to Ottawa, which last hosted the 2009 competition. This marked the 19th time that Canada hosted the WJC and fourth time in six years.

### Venues

The tournament games were played at the Canadian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators, and Ottawa Black Bears, and TD Place Arena, home of the Ottawa 67's, Ottawa BlackJacks and Ottawa Charge.
| Ottawa | Ottawa | Ottawa |
| Canadian Tire Centre Capacity: 18,655 | TD Place Arena Capacity: 8,585 | Ottawa |

### Match officials

The following officials were assigned by the International Ice Hockey Federation to officiate the 2025 World Junior Championships.
Referees
* Andris Ansons
* Riku Brander
* Michael Campbell
* Mads Frandsen
* Christoffer Holm
* Mikael Holm
* Jan Hribik
* Mike Langin
* Sean Macfarlane
* Peter Stano
* Michael Tscherrig
* Kristian Vikman
Linesmen
* Albert Ankerstjerne
* Nick Briganti
* Jake Davis
* Oto Durmis
* Shane Gustafson
* Onni Hautamäki
* Daniel Hynek
* Tommi Niittylä
* Anders Nyqvist
* Tarrington Wyonzek
* Dāvis Zunde

### Preliminary round
#### Seeding
##### Group A (Canadian Tire Centre)

* United States (1)
* Finland (4)
* Canada (5)
* Latvia (8)
* Germany (9)

##### Group B (TD Place Arena)

* Sweden (2)
* Czechia (3)
* Slovakia (6)
* Switzerland (7)
* Kazakhstan (11-Promoted)
* Tie-breaking criteria
* The ranking of teams in the group stage is 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 second-best-ranked team outside tied teams;
* seeding before tournament.

#### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United States | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 10 | +12 | 10 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 2 | Finland | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 8 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 3 | Canada (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 7 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 4 | Latvia | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | −5 | 4 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 5 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 20 | −12 | 1 | Advance to relegation |

#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sweden | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 10 | +14 | 12 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 2 | Czechia | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 9 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 3 | Slovakia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 5 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 4 | Switzerland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 3 | Advance to quarterfinals |
| 5 | Kazakhstan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 30 | −22 | 1 | Advance to relegation |

### Playoff round

Winning teams will be reseeded for the semi-finals in accordance with the following ranking:
* Higher position in their group
* Higher number of points in preliminary pool play
* Better goal differential
* Higher number of goals scored
* Better seeding coming into the tournament (final placement at the 2024 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships)
| Rank | Team | Group | Pos | Pts | GD | GF | Seed |
| 1 | Sweden | B | 1 | 12 | +14 | 24 | 2 |
| 2 | United States | A | 1 | 10 | +12 | 22 | 1 |
| 3 | Czechia | B | 2 | 9 | +16 | 25 | 3 |
| 4 | Finland | A | 2 | 8 | +2 | 10 | 4 |
| 5 | Canada | A | 3 | 7 | +3 | 10 | 5 |
| 6 | Slovakia | B | 3 | 5 | −3 | 11 | 6 |
| 7 | Latvia | A | 4 | 4 | –5 | 8 | 8 |
| 8 | Switzerland | B | 4 | 3 | –5 | 10 | 7 |

#### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Final | Final |
| January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | | | |
| 1A United States | 7 | | | |
| 1A United States | 7 | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | | |
| 4B Switzerland | 2 | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | |
| 4B Switzerland | 2 | 1 Sweden | 3 | |
| January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | | 1 Sweden | 3 | |
| January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 2 – Canadian Tire Centre | 4 Finland (OT) | 4 | |
| 2B Czechia | 4 | 4 Finland (OT) | 4 | |
| 2B Czechia | 4 | | | | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre |
| 3A Canada | 3 | | | | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre |
| 3A Canada | 3 | | | | 2 United States (OT) | 4 |
| January 2 – TD Place Arena | January 2 – TD Place Arena | | | | | 2 United States (OT) | 4 |
| January 2 – TD Place Arena | January 2 – TD Place Arena | | | | 4 Finland | 3 |
| 1B Sweden | 3 | | | | 4 Finland | 3 |
| 1B Sweden | 3 | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | | | |
| 4A Latvia | 2 | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 4 – Canadian Tire Centre | | | |
| 4A Latvia | 2 | 2 United States | 4 | | | |
| January 2 – TD Place Arena | January 2 – TD Place Arena | | 2 United States | 4 | | | |
| January 2 – TD Place Arena | January 2 – TD Place Arena | 3 Czechia | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| 2A Finland | 5 | 3 Czechia | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| 2A Finland | 5 | | | | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre |
| 3B Slovakia | 3 | | | | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre | January 5 – Canadian Tire Centre |
| 3B Slovakia | 3 | | | | 1 Sweden | 2 |
| | | | | | 3 Czechia (GWS) | 3 |

#### Gold medal game
### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

| Pos | Player | Country | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| 1 | Cole Hutson | United States | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +11 | 2 |
| 2 | Jakub Štancl | Czechia | 7 | 7 | 3 | 10 | +6 | 0 |
| 3 | Ryan Leonard | United States | 7 | 5 | 5 | 10 | +10 | 12 |
| 4 | Axel Sandin Pellikka | Sweden | 7 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +8 | 6 |
| 5 | Gabe Perreault | United States | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +10 | 0 |
| 6 | Felix Unger Sörum | Sweden | 7 | 1 | 9 | 10 | +5 | 0 |
| 7 | Dalibor Dvorský | Slovakia | 5 | 5 | 4 | 9 | –2 | 0 |
| 8 | James Hagens | United States | 7 | 5 | 4 | 9 | +9 | 2 |
| 9 | Eduard Šalé | Czechia | 7 | 6 | 2 | 8 | +4 | 4 |
| 10 | Vojtěch Hradec | Czechia | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +9 | 4 |
| 10 | Anton Wahlberg | Sweden | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +7 | 2 |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)
| Pos | Player | Country | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| 1 | Carter George | Canada | 239:01 | 7 | 1.76 | 109 | 93.58 | 2 |
| 2 | Petteri Rimpinen [fi] | Finland | 436:45 | 17 | 2.34 | 255 | 93.33 | 1 |
| 3 | Linards Feldbergs | Latvia | 306:46 | 16 | 3.13 | 226 | 92.92 | 0 |
| 4 | Michael Hrabal | Czechia | 366:45 | 15 | 2.45 | 184 | 91.85 | 0 |
| 5 | Trey Augustine | United States | 309:50 | 13 | 2.52 | 156 | 91.67 | 0 |
TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Petteri Rimpinen
** Best Defenceman: Axel Sandin Pellikka
** Best Forward: Ryan Leonard
* Media All-Stars:
** MVP: Ryan Leonard
** Goaltender: Petteri Rimpinen
** Defencemen: Cole Hutson / Axel Sandin Pellikka
** Forwards: Ryan Leonard/ Jakub Štancl / Gabe Perreault
Source:

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | United States | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 16 | +21 | 18 | Champions |
| 2 | Finland | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 18 | +4 | 14 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Czechia | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 18 | +15 | 14 | Third place |
| 4 | Sweden | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 19 | +13 | 17 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Canada (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Slovakia | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 19 | −5 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | Latvia | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 16 | −6 | 4 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 22 | −10 | 3 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | Germany | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 23 | −11 | 4 | Avoided relegation |
| 10 | Kazakhstan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 34 | −23 | 1 | Relegated to the 2026 Division I A |

## Division I
### Group A

The Division I A tournament was played in Bled, Slovenia, from 9 to 15 December 2024.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Denmark | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 13 | Promotion to the 2026 Top Division |
| 2 | Austria | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 12 | |
| 3 | Norway | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 9 | |
| 4 | Slovenia (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 16 | +2 | 6 | |
| 5 | France | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 20 | −5 | 5 | |
| 6 | Hungary | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 20 | −13 | 0 | Relegation to the 2026 Division I B |

### Group B

The Division I B tournament was played in Tallinn, Estonia, from 11 to 17 January 2025.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Ukraine | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 10 | +19 | 15 | Promotion to the 2026 Division I A |
| 2 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 24 | +2 | 9 | |
| 3 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 9 | |
| 4 | Estonia (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 23 | −7 | 6 | |
| 5 | Poland | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 4 | |
| 6 | South Korea | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 19 | −9 | 2 | Relegation to the 2026 Division II A |
* 1 2 Italy 4–7 Japan

## Division II
### Group A

The Division II A tournament was played in Zagreb, Croatia, from 6 to 12 January 2025.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Lithuania | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 5 | +34 | 15 | Promotion to the 2026 Division I B |
| 2 | Romania | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 9 | |
| 3 | Croatia (H) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 26 | −4 | 9 | |
| 4 | Great Britain | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 6 | |
| 5 | China | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 24 | −6 | 6 | |
| 6 | Netherlands | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 30 | −21 | 0 | Relegation to the 2026 Division II B |
* 1 2 Romania 6–4 Croatia
* 1 2 Great Britain 4–3 China

### Group B

The Division II B tournament was played in Belgrade, Serbia, from 19 to 25 January 2025.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Spain | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 13 | Promotion to the 2026 Division II A |
| 2 | Israel | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 19 | −1 | 9 | |
| 3 | Serbia (H) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 8 | |
| 4 | Australia | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 19 | −1 | 6 | |
| 5 | Iceland | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 6 | |
| 6 | Belgium | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 24 | −14 | 3 | Relegation to the 2026 Division III A |
* 1 2 Iceland 4–5 Australia

## Division III
### Group A

The Division III A tournament was played in Istanbul, Turkey, from 27 January to 2 February 2025.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | New Zealand | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 8 | +24 | 15 | Promotion to the 2026 Division II B |
| 2 | Chinese Taipei | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 39 | 11 | +28 | 12 | |
| 3 | Bulgaria | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 17 | +12 | 9 | |
| 4 | Turkey (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 31 | −4 | 6 | |
| 5 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 54 | −42 | 3 | |
| 6 | Mexico | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 31 | −18 | 0 | Relegation to the 2026 Division III B |

### Group B

The Division III B tournament was played in Bangkok, Thailand, from 11 to 14 December 2024.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Thailand (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | +14 | 9 | Promoted to the 2026 Division III A |
| 2 | Kyrgyzstan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 6 | |
| 3 | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 21 | −10 | 2 | |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 18 | −9 | 1 | |