With the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship now complete, the preliminary groups for next year’s tournament in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. are now set.

Based on the serpentine system, these are the probable group allocations:

St. Paul group: 9 Germany, 8 Switzerland, 5 Canada, 4 Sweden, 1 USA.

Minneapolis group: 10 Denmark, 7 Latvia, 6 Slovakia, 3 Czechia, 2 Finland.

The above seedings are based on the order of finish at this year’s World Junior Championship in Ottawa. The spot of relegated Kazakhstan is taken by Denmark, which won Division I Group A back in December. 

It should be noted that the groups haven’t yet been officially announced by the IIHF and this doesn’t take into account the option tournament organizers have to switch two teams to boost attendance, but that would only make sense if Canada and the USA had been drawn into separate groups. With both in the same group, they can both play in the larger Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, with an expected influx of fans from Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. 

With Canada and the USA in the same group, organizers could also schedule a game between the two teams on New Year’s Eve, which is popular to fans in both countries.