The 2025 World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ontario is set to kick off action on Dec. 26, with 10 teams vying out to win gold at the premier junior hockey event of the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won’t have a ton of representation this year, with just two players vying for gold: Canada’s Easton Cowan and Czechia’s Miroslav Holinka. Luckily, both have a legitimate shot at winning a medal this year, with Cowan and Canada, in particular, entering the tournament as favourites.
All tournament games will be on TSN in Canada and NHL Network in the United States, so it won’t be difficult to catch the future of the sport in action. Toronto-based fans, in particular, will likely pay close attention to Canada, who will look to avenge its quarterfinal exit from Sweden last year.
Here’s a short and sweet primer on what to watch for as the World Juniors get rolling:
More on Easton Cowan
Cowan is back for a second go-around, having registered two points in five games with Canada a year ago. He played more of a depth role, often getting defensive and penalty-kill responsibilities. His one goal was an empty-netter, so he had a quiet showing with the puck, but that’s not expected to happen this time.
Cowan is expected to be a top-line scoring threat for the Canadians after skating alongside Bradly Nadeau and Calum Ritchie. Cowan had a huge opening pre-tournament game against Switzerland, scoring a hat-trick before adding another key goal late in the second game against Sweden. Cowan is riding a 56-game point streak in OHL regular season play, so you know he’s going to be exceptionally important when the games start to matter.
If Cowan remains on that line, he’ll have two players with NHL experience alongside him. Nadeau skated in one game with the Carolina Hurricanes last year before spending all of 2024-25 to date with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Ritchie, meanwhile, scored his first NHL goal during a seven-game stint with the big club to kick off the year before getting loaned back out to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals.
Cowan hasn’t played in a regular season game yet with the Maple Leafs, but does have plenty of pre-season experience over the past two years. As a trio, they should be Canada’s most dangerous line, just like we’ve seen during exhibition action.
Canada’s Round-Robin Schedule
Dec. 26 vs. Finland: 7:30 PM ET
Dec. 27 vs. Latvia: 7:30 PM ET
Dec. 29 vs. Germany: 7:30 PM ET
Dec. 31 vs. USA: 8:00 PM ET
More on Miroslav Holinka
Holinka is no stranger to representing Czechia internationally, having skated with the U-18, U-19, and U-20 teams over the past few years. This tournament, though, will see him have his biggest responsibility to date – Holinka is expected to challenge for the No. 1 center gig. Holinka had four points in three games with the U-20 team earlier this summer and has followed that up with 21 points in 23 games with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings.
Holinka should spend a lot of time with Eduard Sale, the top Czech forward. Whether that means we’ll see him on the power play or not is yet to be seen, but this is a great opportunity for the 19-year-old to play a significant role on one of the top teams in Group B.
Czechia Round-Robin Schedule
Dec. 26 vs. Switzerland: 5:00 PM ET
Dec. 28 vs. Kazakhstan: 1:00 PM ET
Dec. 29 vs. Slovakia: 5:00 PM ET
Dec. 31 vs. Sweden: 5:00 PM ET
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