It’s a thrilling time for USA Hockey. The senior men’s team won gold for the first time since 1933 at the World Championship in May, the women were winners in Czechia in April, and the U20 team just recorded back-to-back IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championship wins for the first time in program history.

Now, a major IIHF event is coming to America’s State of Hockey. The U.S. will host the historic 50^th IIHF World Junior Championship in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota from 26 December 2025 to 5 January 2026.

To help set the stage and begin the roster selection process, four of the tournament’s top nations are gathering in Minneapolis this week for the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase, an event that USA Hockey has been hosting in one form or another each summer since at least 2004.

All practices and games take place at Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. It’s the home of the Golden Gophers’ women’s team and right next door to 3M Arena at Mariucci, where the men’s team plays.

3M Arena will also serve as one of two venues for World Juniors. It will host two quarter-final games and all preliminary-round games for Group B, which features Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland and Latvia.

Group A includes the United States, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. Their preliminary-round games, as well as the other two quarterfinals, both semifinals and the bronze and gold medal games, will all be played at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.

Practices for the World Junior Summer Showcase begin on Friday, 25 July, with 11 games scheduled between Sunday, 27 July and Saturday, 2 Aug. The full schedule is available here.

Here’s what you need to know about each participating country, and how to watch.

United States

As the United States looks to become the first nation to win three straight IIHF World Junior Championships since Canada won five in a row between 2005 and 2009, University of Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko is taking the reins after David Carle’s two gold-medal outings. This will be Motzko’s third time as head coach of the American world junior team. He won gold in Montreal and Toronto in 2017 and bronze in Buffalo in 2018.

The U.S. invited 42 players, including nine who won gold last year. That list includes 2025 World Juniors leading scorer and all-star defenseman Cole Hutson and smooth-skating James Hagens, who was selected seventh overall by the Boston Bruins at the 2025 NHL Draft in June.

Hagens is one of nine first-round picks on the U.S. roster, which will initially be divided into two teams. USA Blue and USA White each play Finland and Sweden on 27-28 Jul, then the roster will be cut down to form one team which will play an additional game against each of the other three nations.

At the Summer Showcase, one of the most interesting roster battles for the U.S. will be in net. Five new faces are vying to follow in the footsteps of Trey Augustine.

Finland

Lauri Mikkola returns for his fourth year as Finland’s World Juniors coach, with momentum on his side. He guided his improving squad from a quarter-final loss in 2023 to a fourth-place finish in 2024 and a silver medal in 2025.

The Finns have won gold five times in world juniors history, most recently in Vancouver and Victoria in 2019. On 20-21 Jul, they iced two teams while hosting a mini-tournament with Czechia and Switzerland in Vierumaki, then cut down their roster.

Mikkola is using the Summer Showcase primarily as an evaluation opportunity. Twenty-five players are making the trek to Minnesota, including five from Vierumaki’s so-called ‘Challenger’ group. Top forwards Konsta Helenius and Emil Hemming are staying home but will certainly figure into Finland’s plans for this winter’s tournament, while 2025 silver-medal goaltender Petteri Rimpinen will be part of the Summer Showcase group.

The Young Lions will open with back-to-back games against USA White and USA Blue, then will have two days off before they face USA, Canada and Sweden.
 

Canada

Canada leads the World Juniors Championship leaderboard with 20 gold medals, but big organizational changes have been underway following quarter-final losses in both 2024 and 2025. Alan Miller has been installed as the permanent GM of the Canada’s World Junior team and fresh off a Memorial Cup with his London Knights of the OHL, Dale Hunter returns as head coach after delivering gold in Czechia in 2020.

Canada’s official roster for the Summer Showcase has not yet been announced, but could feature up to nine returnees from the 2025 World Juniors. That list includes new No. 1 draft pick Matthew Schaefer, likely 2026 first pick Gavin McKenna and Philadelphia Flyers first-rounder Porter Martone, who also suited up for Canada’s senior men’s team in 2025.

In net, Carter George and Jack Ivankovic will likely battle it out for the starter’s role, with Joshua Ravensbergen looking to get into the mix.

Last summer, Canada started Summer Showcase week with two teams in Windsor, Ontario. The split-squad teams each played two games before consolidating into one for a 5-4 loss to the U.S. at the official Showcase event in Plymouth, Mich.

This year, the Canadians are also arriving later, but will be bringing two squads. They’ll hold their first practice on 27 Jul, then Canada White will play Canada Red on 29 Jul before the roster is cut back for games against Finland, Sweden and USA.

Sweden

The Swedes will be missing two of their biggest stars when they take to the ice at Ridder Arena this week with an eye on returning to the podium after a bronze-medal loss to Czechia in 2025.

No. 3 pick Anton Frondell from the 2025 draft and No. 16 selection Victor Eklund have withdrawn from the Summer Showcase, citing a busy summer with their draft and development camp and obligations with their club team, Djurgardens, which won promotion to Sweden’s top league last spring.

Frondell and Eklund will still figure in Sweden’s plans for the World Juniors. For the Summer Showcase, they’ve been replaced by Liam Danielsson and Alexander Zetterberg.

Without Eklund, Sweden’s Summer Showcase roster will include just two returnees from the 2024 IIHF World Juniors: center Linus Eriksson and defenseman Viggo Gustafsson. Defenseman Sascha Boumedienne, also a 2025 first-rounder, will play. Other notable names include a pair of top forward prospects for the 2026 draft, Ivar Stenberg and Viggo Bjorck along with Viggo’s older brother, Wilson Bjorck, who was just selected in the fifth round by the Vancouver Canucks.

Behind the bench, Magnus Havelid returns for a fourth year. He guided Tre Kronor to silver on home soil in Gothenburg in 2024.

Sweden has won three IIHF World Junior Championships, most recently in 2012.

How To Watch

All World Junior Summer Showcase games will be streamed on USAHockeyTV.com. Single games are available for US$14.99 or a one-month subscription is US$29.99.

Tickets for games can be purchased here. Practices are closed to the public.