Canada and Czechia will clash in the second of our 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship semi-finals.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / TIM AUSTEN
The semi-final pairings and times at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship are set.
All games will take place at St. Paul's Grand Casino Arena on Sunday, 4 January 2026. The winners will advance to the gold medal game and the losers will play in the bronze medal game at the same venue on Monday, 5 January 2026.
SF1 – 15:30, Sweden-Finland
SF2 – 19:30, Canada-Czechia
The Sweden-Finland semi-final is a rematch from 2025. In Ottawa, the Finns prevailed 4-3 in overtime in Ottawa on Benjamin Rautiainen’s winner. More broadly, this is also the revival of hockey’s great Nordic rivalry. The Finns are backstopped by 2025’s Best Goalie, Petteri Rimpinen, who will have his work cut out for him against Swedish sharpshooters like captain Jack Berglund and Anton Frondell (seven points apiece).
These neighbouring countries have substantial gold-medal droughts: Sweden’s stretches back to 2012 and Finland’s to 2019. The Swedes settled for silver in 2024 (as hosts) and Finland also took silver in 2025, so each side has massive motivation to win on Sunday.
Canada has mostly dominated the Czechs at the World Juniors in the 21st century – but that changed over the last two years. Czechia stunningly eliminated Canada with last-minute goals in regulation time in both the 2024 and 2025 quarter-finals. The 2026 tournament opened with a back-and-forth 7-5 Canadian win over their recent nemesis, setting the stage for a dramatic semi-final.
Canada is vying for its first gold medal since 2023 and Czechia for its first since 2001. Czech ace Vojtech Cihar leads the tournament with nine points, but three Canadians (Zayne Parekh, Gavin McKenna, Michael Hage) and two fellow Czechs (Tomas Galvas, Petr Sikora) are close behind with eight points apiece.
All games will take place at St. Paul's Grand Casino Arena on Sunday, 4 January 2026. The winners will advance to the gold medal game and the losers will play in the bronze medal game at the same venue on Monday, 5 January 2026.
SF1 – 15:30, Sweden-Finland
SF2 – 19:30, Canada-Czechia
The Sweden-Finland semi-final is a rematch from 2025. In Ottawa, the Finns prevailed 4-3 in overtime in Ottawa on Benjamin Rautiainen’s winner. More broadly, this is also the revival of hockey’s great Nordic rivalry. The Finns are backstopped by 2025’s Best Goalie, Petteri Rimpinen, who will have his work cut out for him against Swedish sharpshooters like captain Jack Berglund and Anton Frondell (seven points apiece).
These neighbouring countries have substantial gold-medal droughts: Sweden’s stretches back to 2012 and Finland’s to 2019. The Swedes settled for silver in 2024 (as hosts) and Finland also took silver in 2025, so each side has massive motivation to win on Sunday.
Canada has mostly dominated the Czechs at the World Juniors in the 21st century – but that changed over the last two years. Czechia stunningly eliminated Canada with last-minute goals in regulation time in both the 2024 and 2025 quarter-finals. The 2026 tournament opened with a back-and-forth 7-5 Canadian win over their recent nemesis, setting the stage for a dramatic semi-final.
Canada is vying for its first gold medal since 2023 and Czechia for its first since 2001. Czech ace Vojtech Cihar leads the tournament with nine points, but three Canadians (Zayne Parekh, Gavin McKenna, Michael Hage) and two fellow Czechs (Tomas Galvas, Petr Sikora) are close behind with eight points apiece.