37 past, present, or future college players will compete among eight nations

Eight of the 10 nations represented at the 2025 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships have at least one player who has played in the NCAA in the past, present, or future. Germany and Kazakhstan are the only teams without one.

These are the players donning their nations colors, except for the United States, which has 22.

Slovakia boasts the most with six. Its two active NCAA players are Maxim Strbak, who plays for Michigan State, and Daniel Alexander Jencko, who plays for UMass. Out of its four commits, both Samuel Urban and Richard Baran will play at Arizona State, Tobias Pitka will play at Boston College, and Peter Cisar will play at Maine.

Finland, Latvia, and Sweden each have two current or future college players. Finland's Tom Leppä plays at Michigan Tech, and Heikki Ruohonen is committed to Harvard. Latvia's Roberts Naudins is also committed to playing for the Crimson, and Rudolfs Berzkalns will play for the Eagles. Sweden's lone active NCAA player is Tom Willander, who plays at Boston University, but Melvin Strahl is committed to the Spartans.

Czechia's only representative is Michael Hrabal, who plays for the Minutemen. Switzerland's Christian Kirsch will join Hrabal at UMass. Canada has the only former NCAA player in Bradly Nadeau, who played a season at Maine last year before signing his entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes in April.

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