2025 World Juniors Hockey Tournament Format: Here’s How It Works – FloHockey

The 2025 World Junior Championships are just around the corner as the ten best nations in the world put together the best junior team possible to compete for the chance at a world championship gold.

This year, you’ll be able to follow rising hockey stars on their path to the NHL like James Hagens, Porter Martone, and Berkly Catton.

Competition starts on Dec. 26 and will go through Jan. 5, and will feature elite youth prospects from all over the world.

Whether you’re a first-time viewer or a seasoned fan, understanding how the World Juniors 2025 tournament progresses is crucial for following the action from start to finish. In this guide, we’ll break down the tournament structure, key dates, and the rising stars you’ll want to keep an eye on.

2025 World Juniors Hockey Tournament Format Explained

Each year, the top ten ranked hockey nations in the world put together a roster of their best under-20 players to convene for a multi-round tournament to earn the title of IIHF World Junior champion. This year, the tournament is in Ottawa, Canada.

In 2025, the tournament follows a similar format to previous seasons. The tournament uses a three point system:

• 3 points for a winning team at the conclusion of regulation time
• 2 points for both teams at the conclusion of regulation time if the game is tied
  • An additional point is earned for the team winning in a 5-minute overtime, or the penalty-shot shootout if the teams are still tied following overtime
• 0 points for a team losing the game in regulation time

Similar to the NHL regular season rules, overtime is played with each team icing three skaters and a goalie.

The tournament starts with two round-robin tournaments five teams each and then moves into single-elimination playoff games.

Ten teams are divided into two, five-team groups in a preliminary round, also called the group stage. After a single round-robin series in each group, the top four teams as scored by points in each group advance to the playoff rounds. 

The fifth place teams move to the relegation round. The winner play in the next IIHF World Junior Championship. The loser is relegated to the U20 World Championships Division I Group A.

Based on placements from the group stage, the remaining eight teams move into single-elimination playoffs to compete in a cross-over quarterfinal game. The top placed team in one group play the lowest placed team from the other group, and so forth.

Heading into the semifinal round, the remaining four teams are reseeded based on the following criteria:

1. Placement in their group
2. Points in the group stage
3. Goal difference in the group stage
4. Goals scored in the group stage
5. Seeding coming into the tournament

Finally, the semifinal winners move into the Gold medal game while the losers play for the bronze medal.

How To Watch The 2025 World Junior Championship

The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will air on TSN and RDS on television in Canada. The tournament will be streamed on TSN+ in Canada, as well. 

In the United States, NHL Network will be the television home of the World Junior Championship. Streaming information for USA is not currently available.

Follow FloHockey’s Coverage Of Team USA At The WJC

FloHockey is providing comprehensive editorial and video coverage of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. With a team of content creators on site and leading WJC analyst Chris Peters providing stories and columns throughout the event, make FloHockey your home to learn more about the 2025 World Juniors. FloHockey will be following Team USA and Team Canada closely, while tracking the rest of the tournament on site. See all the stories here.

In addition to comprehensive editorial coverage, FloHockey is helping you learn more about Team USA with a number of video features with select players. Here’s what we have so far, with more to come!

Original Video Features

When Is Team USA Vs. Team Canada At World Juniors 2025

Team USA vs. Team Canada will be played on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, at 7:00 p.m. ET at Canadian Tire Centre on NHL Network.

2025 World Juniors Hockey Championship Schedule

Dec. 26

• Sweden vs. Slovakia, TD Place, 12 p.m. ET
• Germany vs. United States, Canadian Tire Centre, 2:30 p.m. ET
• Switzerland vs. Czechia, TD Place, 5 p.m. ET
• Canada vs. Finland, Canadian Tire Centre, 7:30 p.m. ET

Dec. 27

• Slovakia vs. Switzerland, TD Place, 1 p.m. ET
• Finland vs. Germany, Canadian Tire Centre, 3:30 p.m. ET
• Kazakhstan vs. Sweden, TD Place, 5 p.m. ET
• Canada vs. Latvia, Canadian Tire Centre, 7:30 p.m. ET

Dec. 28

• Czechia vs. Kazakhstan, TD Place, 1 p.m. ET
• United States vs. Latvia, Canadian Tire Centre, 3:30 p.m. ET

Dec. 29

• Sweden vs. Switzerland, TD Place, 12 p.m. ET
• Finland vs. United States, Canadian Tire Centre, 2:30 p.m. ET
• Slovakia vs. Czechia, TD Place, 5 p.m. ET
• Germany vs. Canada, Canadian Tire Centre, 7:30 p.m. ET

Dec. 30

• Kazakhstan vs. Slovakia, TD Place, 1 p.m. ET
• Latvia vs. Germany, Canadian Tire Centre, 3:30 p.m. ET

Dec. 31

• Switzerland vs. Kazakhstan, TD Place, 12 p.m. ET
• Latvia vs. Finland, Canadian Tire Centre, 2:30 p.m. ET
• Czechia vs. Sweden, TD Place, 5 p.m. ET
• United States vs. Canada, Canadian Tire Centre, 7:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 2

• Quarterfinal 1, TD Place, 12 p.m. ET
• Quarterfinal 2, Canadian Tire Centre, 2:30 p.m. ET
• Quarterfinal 3, TD Place, 5 p.m. ET
• Quarterfinal 4, Canadian Tire Centre, 7:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 4 (Canadian Tire Centre)

• Semifinal 1, 3:30 p.m. ET
• Semifinal 2, 7:30 p.m. ET

Jan. 5 (Canadian Tire Centre)

• Third-place game, 3:30 p.m. ET
• Championship game, 7:30 p.m. ET

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