For the 13th time in World Junior Hockey Championship history, Canada and the United States play on New Year’s Eve. Extra motivation has been added to Tuesday’s battle between rival nations with first place in Group A going to the winner.
Team Canada’s captain is Saskatoon native Brayden Yager. He is playing in his second consecutive World Junior Championship and is excited about the contest.
“The atmosphere is going to be so cool playing against the United States in a rivalry game -- we don’t like those guys over there.”
Yager, a Winnipeg Jets prospect who plays for Lethbridge in the Western Hockey League, admits this is a game he’s dreamed about playing in.
“Growing up watching, it’s always been the U.S. and Canada, we want to make our country proud.”
The United States are keenly aware of the ramifications, according to defenceman Cole Hutson, they know there will be 18,000 fans cheering against them.
“I don’t think that they can get much louder than they’ve already been. They hate us out there and I love it.”
Hutson plays NCAA hockey at Boston College and is one of the top-ranked prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft. He too is excited about the rivalry between the two nations.
“You win that game and you get to rub that in a little bit, so hopefully, we are on the good side of it.”
Team Canada has been criticized for its lack of offence through the tournament so far. The nation condemned them, especially after the heavily favoured Canadians were upset by Latvia on Friday and narrowly beat underdog Germany on Sunday. Saskatoon forward Berkly Catton is channelling that pressure from the nation.
“This is the game that’s been circled on everyone’s calendar: U.S. versus Canada is the biggest one. That’s when you see who the real players are, who show up for that one; it’s a big one.”
American captain Ryan Leonard was part of the 2024 World Junior gold medal champion team and he feels his team relishes the role of the villain in front of a hostile crowd.
“The world’s against us. It’s going to be a fun one.”
Puck drop between the 2-0-1 Canadians and the 2-0-1 Americans goes at 6:30 p.m. SK time.
