In his third year of junior, Hodgson was selected to compete in the 2009 World Junior Championships with Team Canada in Ottawa. He was chosen as an alternate captain to defenceman Thomas Hickey. In the second round-robin game against Kazakhstan, Hodgson accumulated six points (two goals and four assists), coming within one point of the single-game Canadian record held by Michael Cammalleri and Dave Andreychuk. In the following round-robin game against the United States, he scored the game-winning goal in a 7–4 win to lead Team Canada to first place in their pool and a bye to the semi-finals. Facing Sweden in the final game, Hodgson scored two goals – one on the powerplay and an empty-netter – and one assist to overtake John Tavares as the tournament leading scorer with five goals and 11 assists for 16 points in six games. Team Canada defeated Sweden 5–1 to capture the gold medal while Hodgson was named to the Tournament All-Star Team. Returning from the tournament, Hodgson was asked to drop the ceremonial faceoff for a Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Florida Panthers on January 6, 2009.