When? At 22.30 Swedish time on the evening of the second day.
Where? Sweden, which belongs to group A, will play all four of their group matches in Red Deer, which is located between Edmonton and Calgary.
Group B will play their group games in Edmonton.
The premiere match will be shown on TV6 / Viaplay.
The groups in JVM
Group A
Sweden, USA, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland.
Group B
Canada, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.
The junior crown’s key player
The news that the New Jersey Devils released forward Alexander Holtz to JVM was a message of joy for Juniorkronorna’s national team captain Tomas Montén.
Holtz is doing his third JVM and will lead the Swedish offensive together with another key player, namely his best friend William Eklund, who plays in Djurgården on a daily basis.
Sweden has two high-class goalkeepers in Luleå’s Jesper Wallstedt and Rögle’s Calle Clang and with the greatest certainty they will both have the opportunity to play a few matches each in the group stage.
Russia’s latest medal
In 2020, the Junior Crowns and Russia met in a semifinal that became a drama. After three played periods, the score was 4-4. The decision came four minutes into extra time when Ivan Morozov secured Russia’s final place through his 5-4 goal.
In the final, Russia faced Canada and even that match was a thriller that contained everything and a little more.
Russia was in the lead with 3-1, but Canada responded with a powerful turnaround and scored three straight goals. The gold was thus Canada’s, and the Russian players had to go home with a silver medal.
Russia’s latest gold
The last time Russia took gold was in 2011.
Sweden’s latest gold
The last time Sweden took gold – by the way the second Swedish gold ever – was in 2012.
Training matches
With an increase in coronary heart disease in Canada, the team was only allowed to play one training match each before the premiere. Russia met the home nation Canada, and Canada took the lead with 4-0 already in the first period.
Russia played better in the following two periods, but Canada won the match 6-4.
Sweden met Austria, and there was no real measure of value for the Swedish juniors who won 7-0.
Half full stands
Last year’s JVM was decided in a strict bubble without an audience. This year, the idea was that it would be crowded in the arenas again – in Canada, junior hockey is big – but just over a week before the premiere, the news came that audience restrictions mean that audience capacity will be reduced to about half.
Other matches on the second day (and the night before 27/12):
26/12 20.00 Finland-Germany
27/12 01.00 Canada-Czech Republic
27/12 03.30 USA-Slovakia
Read more: “When I was younger, it could be difficult with body control”
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