Probable Groups For 2027 World Juniors In Alberta

With Sweden beating Czechia in the final and Canada defeating Finland in the bronze medal game, the final standings of the 2026 IIHF World Championship in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. have now been determined. From that, the groups for next year’s tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., can now be predicted:

Edmonton group: Norway, Latvia, Switzerland, Canada, Czechia

Red Deer group: Germany, Slovakia, USA, Finland, Sweden

Norway, winner of the U20 World Championship Division I Group A this year, will take the place of Denmark, which was relegated.

Canada will play in the larger venue, Rogers Place in Edmonton, home of the Edmonton Oilers and the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings. The other group will play at Marchant Crane Centrium in Red Deer, home of the WHL's Red Deer Rebels.

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The Canadian organizers of the tournament have the option of swapping two of the teams in order to boost attendance, although there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason to do so. Canada has been drawn into a group with Czechia, a team that seems to have become its arch-nemesis in recent years, perhaps leading to a big game for the top of the group on New Year’s Eve. In Red Deer, meanwhile, Sweden, Finland and the USA are all strong teams that should help ticket sales in the secondary venue.

It is possible that organizers will be disappointed with the bottom three teams in Edmonton, and might like to perhaps swap Latvia for Slovakia, but that’s merely speculation.

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