For the first time since 2012, one of Canada, the United States or Finland will not be taking home the gold medal at the World Junior Championships.
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Instead, one of Sweden or Czechia will be the next champion as both teams look to break lengthy gold medal droughts.
Sweden last took home gold in 2012 when Mika Zibanejad scored the overtime winner against Russia in Calgary, delivering the country’s second-ever World Junior title and first since 1981.
It has since been a long 14 years for Sweden, who have four silver medals, two bronze medals and five fourth-place finishes at the tournament since 2012.
Sweden has been undefeated up until this point of the tournament. They went the distance with rival Finland in the semifinals, going all the way to the shootout before Chicago Blackhawks prospect Anton Frondell scored the winner past Petteri Rimpinen to send the Swedes to the gold-medal game.
“It’s not that high pressure on us,” Frondell said on Sunday after beating Finland. “I feel like we can just win everything.”
Czechia returns to the gold-medal game for the first time since 2023 after picking up bronze medals the past two years.
The Czechs outduelled Canada in a back-and-forth semifinal on Sunday night. Canadian captain Porter Martone tied the game 4-4 late in the third with just over two minutes to play but Czechia responded shortly after as Tomas Poletin scored the go-ahead goal with 1:16 remaining and Vojtech Cihar sealed the game with an empty-net goal with Canada’s Cole Reschny in the penalty box.
“We were a little more hungry,” said Czech head coach Patrik Augusta postgame. “The guys just showed that they are a team. They showed a lot of character and a lot of will.”
Czechia last won World Junior gold 25 years ago, when they won back-to-back in 2000 and 2001. Between 2002 and 2022, the Czechs won just one medal in that span, a bronze in 2005, before breaking through for silver in 2023 in Halifax.
Both teams have players who have been significant producers offensively so far in the tournament.
For Czechia, Cihar is the second-leading scorer with four goals and 11 points while defenceman Tomas Galvas and captain Petr Sikora both have nine points.
Frondell has paced Sweden with five goals and is tied with captain Jack Berglund and forward Eddie Genborg with eight points.
Forwards Ivar Stenberg and Viggo Bjorck, who are both eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft, have three goals and seven points each.
In net, Love Harenstam has shouldered the majority of the load for Sweden. He has the second-best save percentage in the tournament at .906 and a 2.52 goals-against average.
Michal Orsulak has been the go-to goaltender for Czechia, backstopping them to wins over Finland, Switzerland and Canada with his only loss of the tournament coming in the opening game against Canada.