Team Canada were the favourites to win gold at this year’s World Juniors considering the tournament is being held on their home soil and they entered as the reigning champions, but that all came crashing down after Finland eliminated Canada in the quarterfinals.
After the early exit Canadian hockey fans quickly looked ahead to next year’s tournament, where Canada will most likely be a favourite yet again like they are every year, only they’re going to be in for a seriously tough competition before they even get to the elimination stage. Ahead of the gold medal game, TSN’s Gord Miller revealed the groups for next year’s tournament and regardless of who comes out on top this year, next year’s Group B is going to be a scary one.
For the fourth straight year the Canadians will find themselves in the same group as the Russians, but they might end up in a group with both the Russians and the Americans just like the 2017 World Juniors if Finland comes out victorious. In an even worse situation will be the Czechs, who are next year’s tournament hosts and will have to compete against three powerhouses.
While Group B looks like the Group of Death on paper, never forget that they play the games for a reason and anything can happen throughout the tournament.
(H/T Twitter/GMillerTSN)
