USA’s Will Horcoff #22 battles with Slovakia's Michal Capos #6 in the first period during Bronze Medal Game action at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship at Comerica Center on May 3, 2025 in Frisco, Texas, USA. (Photo by Tim Austen/IIHF)
photo: © Tim Austen / IIHF
It’s an annual tradition – for U18 players from hockey’s elite nations, the season starts in August with the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and finishes in April at the IIHF U18 World Championship. This season, the starting and ending points are very close to each other. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which starts on Monday and finishes next Saturday, will be held in Brno, Czechia and Trencin, Slovakia. The U18 Worlds will run from 22 April to 2 May, 2026, in Piestany and Bratislava, Slovakia.
Group A in Brno features Canada, Finland, Switzerland and the host Czechs. Group B in Trencin houses the teams from the USA, Sweden, Germany and, of course, Slovakia. The semifinals, final, and placement games will be split between the two venues on Friday and Saturday.
This is the second time Trencin has served as the main Slovak site – the first time was two years ago – and this is the first time for Brno and its 7,700-capacity arena, taking over from long-time host city Breclav.
“The modern facilities and larger capacity of the Brno arena will provide more comfortable conditions not only for players, but also for spectators and journalists,” Czech Ice Hockey Association spokesperson Aneta Lednova said about the home rink of Czech Extraliga club Kometa Brno.
“It helps us that the tournament is in Slovakia this year,” said Slovak coach Martin Dendis. “Since the World Championship is also here, we can already model the impact of the pressure of the home environment on the guys. We will watch how they act under pressure, how they make decisions under pressure, and we’ll gain valuable information that we will work with throughout the season.”
Seven of the eight teams competing at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this summer will return to southwestern Slovakia next spring, led by Canada, the defending champion of each tournament. The loan exception is Switzerland, which was relegated from the most recent U18 World Championship and will play Division I Group A in Krynica, Poland. Historically, Canada has been dominant at the summer U18 event, winning the last three Hlinka Gretzky Cups and 25 out of 33 tournaments overall dating back to 1991.
In the past, Canadian rosters have featured future stars and this year should be more of the same. The roster Canada has brought this year includes Keaton Verhoeff, Ethan Belchetz, Tynan Lawrence, Mathis Preston, Ryan Lin and Daxon Rudolph, who are projected to be among the top picks at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. It also includes 16-year-old defenseman Landon Dupont, who figures to be one of the top picks in 2027.
“A lot of depth on this team,” said Canadian coach Mathieu Turcotte. “I really feel this is a special group of players. We believe that everybody can contribute and we hope that everybody does. That’s what can really make your success in this tournament.” Sweden is also bringing a strong team, with projected first-rounders Marcus Nordmark, Oscar Holmertz and Elton Hermansson. The Swedes have only won this event once, back in 2027, but are usually among the favourites at both U18 tournaments and are again this year.
“We are bringing a team that gives us the opportunity to battle for victory in the tournament,” said Swedish coach Johan Rosen. “At the same time, it is early in the season and we see it as part of our development journey leading up to the U18 World Championship next year.”
The Czechs always do well in their shared home tournament as well. They won it back in 2016 and have made the final three times since then, including each of the past two years. Unfortunately, the team’s best eligible player, Simon Katolicky, is unavailable while recovering from an appendectomy. However, the team still has high hopes to perform well at home.
“It’s great that we are playing at home and the guys will experience the cheering fans,” said Czech coach Jan Tomajko. “They aren’t used to that and it will definitely charge them up.”
Following training camps and the last pre-tournament games on Saturday, the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup starts for real on Monday with Canada meeting Finland and Germany facing Sweden in the openers at 15:30 CET, 9:30 AM ET. Then in the nightcaps, the two group hosts are both in action, with Czechia taking on Switzerland and Slovakia battling the USA at 19:00 CET, 1:00 PM ET.
Group A in Brno features Canada, Finland, Switzerland and the host Czechs. Group B in Trencin houses the teams from the USA, Sweden, Germany and, of course, Slovakia. The semifinals, final, and placement games will be split between the two venues on Friday and Saturday.
This is the second time Trencin has served as the main Slovak site – the first time was two years ago – and this is the first time for Brno and its 7,700-capacity arena, taking over from long-time host city Breclav.
“The modern facilities and larger capacity of the Brno arena will provide more comfortable conditions not only for players, but also for spectators and journalists,” Czech Ice Hockey Association spokesperson Aneta Lednova said about the home rink of Czech Extraliga club Kometa Brno.
“It helps us that the tournament is in Slovakia this year,” said Slovak coach Martin Dendis. “Since the World Championship is also here, we can already model the impact of the pressure of the home environment on the guys. We will watch how they act under pressure, how they make decisions under pressure, and we’ll gain valuable information that we will work with throughout the season.”
Seven of the eight teams competing at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this summer will return to southwestern Slovakia next spring, led by Canada, the defending champion of each tournament. The loan exception is Switzerland, which was relegated from the most recent U18 World Championship and will play Division I Group A in Krynica, Poland. Historically, Canada has been dominant at the summer U18 event, winning the last three Hlinka Gretzky Cups and 25 out of 33 tournaments overall dating back to 1991.
In the past, Canadian rosters have featured future stars and this year should be more of the same. The roster Canada has brought this year includes Keaton Verhoeff, Ethan Belchetz, Tynan Lawrence, Mathis Preston, Ryan Lin and Daxon Rudolph, who are projected to be among the top picks at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. It also includes 16-year-old defenseman Landon Dupont, who figures to be one of the top picks in 2027.
“A lot of depth on this team,” said Canadian coach Mathieu Turcotte. “I really feel this is a special group of players. We believe that everybody can contribute and we hope that everybody does. That’s what can really make your success in this tournament.” Sweden is also bringing a strong team, with projected first-rounders Marcus Nordmark, Oscar Holmertz and Elton Hermansson. The Swedes have only won this event once, back in 2027, but are usually among the favourites at both U18 tournaments and are again this year.
“We are bringing a team that gives us the opportunity to battle for victory in the tournament,” said Swedish coach Johan Rosen. “At the same time, it is early in the season and we see it as part of our development journey leading up to the U18 World Championship next year.”
The Czechs always do well in their shared home tournament as well. They won it back in 2016 and have made the final three times since then, including each of the past two years. Unfortunately, the team’s best eligible player, Simon Katolicky, is unavailable while recovering from an appendectomy. However, the team still has high hopes to perform well at home.
“It’s great that we are playing at home and the guys will experience the cheering fans,” said Czech coach Jan Tomajko. “They aren’t used to that and it will definitely charge them up.”
Following training camps and the last pre-tournament games on Saturday, the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup starts for real on Monday with Canada meeting Finland and Germany facing Sweden in the openers at 15:30 CET, 9:30 AM ET. Then in the nightcaps, the two group hosts are both in action, with Czechia taking on Switzerland and Slovakia battling the USA at 19:00 CET, 1:00 PM ET.