The 2024 World Junior Championships will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from Dec. 26, 2023, to Jan. 5, 2024. Historically, this is the seventh time that Sweden has hosted the event, with the last time occurring in 2014, when the home country lost to Finland in the Gold Medal game.
Surprisingly, Sweden has been an active participant in the World Junior Championships since its inception in 1974 but has only claimed the Gold Medal on two occasions, in 1981 and 2012.
Considering Sweden is one of the top hockey countries in the world, it is shocking to see a team known to dominate in the round-robin, including a record 54-game win streak from 2006 to 2020, only having five Silver Medals and three Bronze Medals this century.
Now that they are hosting the event again for the first time in a decade, can Sweden overcome the pitfalls that cost them so many games in the medal round and finally capture something that has eluded them for so long: a U20 World Junior Championship Gold Medal?
Team Sweden boasts a lineup of 19 NHL-drafted prospects
When the World Junior Championships kick off, most experts pencil in Team Canada and Team USA as the favorites to win the Gold Medal. Realistically, these two countries spend a lot of money and resources on their junior programs, giving them an edge over the other countries.
Even though Sweden has a junior-level program, J20 Nationell, it doesn’t compare, for example, to the United States National Development Team Program, which trains and plays together for an entire hockey season.
Given that the World Junior Championships is a week-and-a-half-long tournament, team chemistry is vital for any level of success. Before naming their lineup, Canada runs a handful of camps inviting the best players nationwide to showcase their skills and create chemistry with past and future teammates.
Interestingly, outside the U20 World Junior Championships, Sweden has found success at the U18 tournaments, winning the Gold Medal in two of the previous four tournaments and claiming the Silver Medal at the 2023 event. Furthermore, they have earned a medal in six of the past seven tournaments, finishing in the top three every year except 2017.
Why doesn’t Sweden experience the same level of success at the U20 World Junior Championships?
Ultimately, Canada and the United States don’t tend to send their best players to participate in the U18 tournament, mainly due to other commitments, like playoffs in North America, since the tournament…
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