The World Junior Championship is well on its way, and the Quarterfinal matchups are now set. The first elimination games will take place on January 2, with Sweden taking on Latvia, Czechia taking on Switzerland, the USA taking on Finland, and Canada taking on Slovakia. Meanwhile, Germany will battle Denmark in the relegation game. The tourney has been particularly successful for Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] prospect Michael Hage, who, with eight points in four games, co-leads the scoring race with Tomas Chrenko and teammates Zayne Parekh and Gavin McKenna. The centerman has two goals and six assists and has been playing a predominant role for Team Canada. He has 15 shots on goal, a plus-five rating, a game-winning goal and a power play goal. While entirely away from the penalty box. Canada finished the preliminary round with 11 points, atop Group B, earning the right to play Slovakia in the quarterfinals, the team that finished fourth in Group A with just three points. As for LJ Mooney, the American has three assists in four games with Team USA and took a minor penalty. He finishes the preliminary round with a minus-one rating and spent nearly 20 minutes on the ice in the Americans’ loss to Sweden to set the quarterfinal matchups. With 12 points, the Americans finished second in Group A and will face Finland, which finished second in Group B with seven points, thanks to two wins and an overtime loss. The Finns are a strong side who won’t go down easily, and the defending champs have got their work cut out for them in what will be a rematch of last year’s gold medal game when the USA needed overtime to overcome Finland 4-3. Speaking of Finland, Saku Koivu’s son, Aatos, has a goal and an assist in four games and finished the preliminary round with a plus-two rating. As for goaltender Mikus Vecvanags, he has served as a backup to Nils Maurins and is unlikely to play in the quarterfinal against Sweden, which finished atop Group A. Finally, even though Germany will be playing in the regulation game against Denmark tomorrow, Carlos Handel can be proud of what he has accomplished. He has been an absolute workhorse for his country and finished the preliminary round with an assist and a minus-three rating, which is impressive, given that his country has a minus-17 goal differential. The tournament’s semifinal will be played on January 4 and the medal games on January 5. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains]. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on The Hockey News. Image [https://cdn.ramp-assets.playwire.com/1025444/76033/house_ads/file-1762367418209.jpg] Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I].
